Third-quarter net income at Paradise Co Ltd, an operator of foreigner-only casinos in South Korea, dipped 55 percent year-on-year to KRW19.66 billion (US$14.20 million), while group-wide casino sales registered a 27.1-percent year-on-year decline.
That is according to a Friday filing to the Korea Exchange, and the company’s supplementary materials on its performance for the three months to September 30.
Third-quarter earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 27.7 percent year-on-year to KRW55.73 billion. Measured sequentially, they were up 7.4 percent.
Paradise Co’s overall sales in the third quarter reached nearly KRW268.25 billion, down 6.1 percent year-on-year, and 1.8 percent sequentially.
Group-wide casino sales in the reporting quarter amounted to nearly KRW84.38 billion, down by 27.1 percent from a year ago and down 24.6 percent from the previous quarter.
Paradise Co attributed the lower casino sales to “low hold rate”, despite the firm’s third-quarter “soft drop” – the amount of cash exchanged for chips by customers at the gaming table – reaching what it called a “record-high” to KRW1.77 trillion, according to the supplementary data.
Paradise Co directly operates three casino venues: Paradise Walkerhill in Seoul; Paradise Jeju on Jeju island; and a property in the port city of Busan.
The company 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.
Walkerhill continued to be a main contributor to Paradise Co’s overall casino sales. Walkerhill’s casino sales in the third quarter amounted to KRW65.8 billion, though the tally was down by circa 28 percent from the KRW91.5 billion in the previous quarter, and also down 33.8 percent from KRW99.3 billion a year ago.
Paradise City hit a “record-high” in casino sales and “strong” hotel sales, thanks to “VIP” patrons from Japan and China, the company said.
Paradise City’s third-quarter EBITDA reached KRW37.50 billion, up by 4.9 percent year-on-year and 49.5 percent sequentially.
That Incheon property’s overall sales in the third quarter were nearly KRW146.55 billion, up by 10.5 percent year-on-year and 11.5 percent sequentially. The bulk of the sales were generated from casino operations. Such sales in the reporting quarter amounted to KRW110.29 billion, up by 12.8 percent year-on-year and 7.6 percent sequentially.
The neighbouring competitor to Paradise City in the Incheon area, is Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort. The casino at the latter property, promoted by the U.S.-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, opened in February this year.
