GGRAsia – S. Korea’s GKL August casino sales up 22pct

S. Korea’s GKL August casino sales up 22pct

Sep 13, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) posted strong sales in August. The company on Wednesday reported casino sales of approximately KRW50.7 billion (US$45.3 million) for that month, up 21.8 percent from the prior-year period.

Judged month-on-month, August casino sales rose 37.4 percent compared to July.

The year-on-year increase in casino sales was sustained by a 26.8 percent rise in table game sales during the month of August, to nearly KRW46.0 billion. Machine game sales however declined by 12.0 percent year-on-year to about KRW4.7 billion, the firm said in a filing to the Korea Exchange.

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.

The company said casino sales for the first eight months of 2018 grew by 1.9 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW326.4 billion.

Table game sales for the January to August period rose by 4.8 percent from the prior-year period to about KRW288.4 billion. Machine game sales declined 16.2 percent in the eight months to August 31, to nearly KRW37.8 billion.

The casino operator saw its second-quarter net income increase by 76.2 percent year-on-year to approximately KRW27.2 billion. The firm did not provide any reason for the sharp increase in its quarterly results.