December casino revenue at Paradise Co Ltd, an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, went down 1.4 percent sequentially, to KRW70.74 billion (US$48.18 million), the firm said in a Monday filing to the Korea Exchange.
The December tally took Paradise Co’s full-year casino revenue to KRW818.79 billion, up 10.2 percent from 2023.
December’s casino revenue rose 11.7 percent from the same month in 2023. Most of it – just above KRW67.0 billion – was generated from table games. The table game segmental revenue was flat sequentially but up 13.8 percent year-on-year, according to the filing.
Gaming machine revenue stood at nearly KRW3.74 billion in December, down circa 16 percent sequentially and down by the same percentage year-on-year.
Table drop – the amount of cash exchanged for chips by patrons at the table – stood at KRW540.94 billion in December, down 6.5 percent from the previous month and down 7.0 percent year-on-year.
Paradise Co’s aggregate 2024 table drop reached nearly KRW6.87 trillion, up 11.3 percent year-on-year.
The company controls outright three casino venues: Paradise Walkerhill in Seoul; Paradise Jeju on Jeju island; and a property in the port city of Busan.
It also has a venture with Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc for the Paradise City casino resort at Incheon, near South Korea’s main airport.
During December, Paradise City kepts its place as largest monthly contributor of casino revenue to Paradise Co’s business, with KRW36.59 billion, up 4.0 percent sequentially and 30.6 percent year-on-year. That is according to Paradise Co’s complementary financial data filed on its website.
The firm’s Walkerhill venue remained in December second-biggest monthly casino revenue contributor, with KRW26.51 billion, though the segment was down 12.2 percent sequentially and down 9.9 percent year-on-year.
The reporting period coincides with South Korea’s political crisis that started early December, when the now-impeached South Korea president, Yoon Suk Yeol, made a short-lived declaration of martial law.
On December 26, South Korea announced visa-easing measures for tourists from China, with an official citing also, measures to counter what was described as the negative impact on the inbound-visitor market, of the political crisis.
