Kangwon Land Inc, operator of Kangwon Land, a resort housing the only casino in South Korea permitted to serve local players, posted a net profit of nearly KRW9.2 billion (US$7.3 million) for the fourth quarter of 2022. The firm had recorded a net loss of KRW11.0 billion a year earlier.
The net profit for the three months ended December was down 87.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, according to a company filing to the Korea Exchange on Thursday.
Kangwon Land returned to profit in full-year 2022, recording net income of KRW115.6 billion. It said that was due to the fact that the “casino operation environment” in South Korea “had been normalised” following the scrapping in April of social distancing policies linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The firm’s fourth-quarter sales reached KRW334.7 billion, down 15.8 percent sequentially, but an increase of 38.2 percent from a year earlier.
Gaming sales in the three months to December 31 stood at KRW294.1 billion, up 36.9 percent from the prior-year period. Measured sequentially, fourth-quarter gaming sales declined 14.4 percent, according to investor relations materials published on the firm’s website on Thursday.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the quarter to December rose by 36.3 percent year-on-year, to KRW322.8 billion. Of that, KRW155.4 billion came from mass gaming table play, and another KRW134.0 billion from slot machines. Both segments saw year-on-year growth that outpaced the overall increase in GGR, according to Kangwon Land’s financial updates.
The firm’s other gaming segment – “membership club” – recorded GGR of KRW33.5 billion for the fourth quarter, down 21.7 percent in year-on-year terms.
The firm also saw year-on-year sales growth in most of its non-gaming segments in the fourth quarter. Non-gaming sales reached KRW40.6 billion, an increase of 48.7 percent from a year ago.
During the reporting period, Kangwon Land recorded a tally of 573,678 visitors, up 89.1 percent year-on-year. The large majority were locals, showed the firm’s data.
