S. Korea’s GKL July casino sales up 11pct

Aug 07, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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South Korean gaming operator Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) says its casino sales for July rose by 11.4 percent year-on-year, to nearly KRW41.12 billion (US$33.8 million).

Judged month-on-month, July casino sales increased by 5.5 percent compared to June, according to a Tuesday filing.

The year-on-year increase in casino sales was due to an 11.3-percent jump in table game sales during the month of July, to about KRW36.36 billion. Machine game sales grew by 12.1 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW4.76 billion, the firm said in the filing to the Korea Exchange.

No commentary on the reasons for revenue fluctuations is given in the company’s monthly updates.

GKL’s July results are in line with the latest sales reported by market rival Paradise Co Ltd. The latter company said on Monday that its casino revenue grew to approximately KRW74.15 billion in July, 3.2 percent more than one month earlier and 19.1 percent more than at the same stage last year.

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 seven months of 2019 fell by 3.1 percent year-on-year, to just above KRW267.11 billion.

Table game sales for the period were down 4.1 percent to about KRW232.53 billion, while machine game sales increased by 4.4 percent to KRW34.58 billion.

GKL said in May that its first-quarter net income halved to just under KRW8.46 billion. The firm stated first-quarter sales slipped by 10.5 percent year on-year.

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