S.Korea casino operator GKL sales dip 52pct in 2021

Jan 04, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos under the Seven Luck brand, reported on Tuesday that its full-year 2021 casino sales fell 51.8 percent year-on-year. Such sales were KRW89.58 billion (US$74.9 million), versus KRW186.02 billion in 2020.

In its filing to the Korea Exchange, the group did not give commentary on the reasons for the decline.

Last year saw a number of business disruptions to South Korea’s casino sector, associated with the Covid-19 pandemic

GKL’s table game sales for the year dipped 54.1 percent year-on-year, to KRW74.43 billion. Machine game sales contracted by 36.8 percent from a year earlier, to just under KRW15.24 billion.

But judged month-on-month, GKL’s December casino sales were up 147.7 percent, at nearly KRW10.14 billion.

December’s table sales were KRW8.79 billion, a sequential improvement of 258.9 percent on November’s figures. December machine game sales fell 18.3 percent month-on-month, to KRW1.34 billion.

GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The casino operating entity runs three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea under the Seven Luck brand: two in the capital Seoul and one in the southern port city of Busan.

In December, the casino operator confirmed it would relocate its gaming venue currently at the Millennium Hilton Seoul hotel in Gangbuk in the country’s capital, to Seoul Dragon City Hotelplex, by “January 1, 2023”.

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