S. Korea’s GKL November casino sales up 15pct

Dec 10, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) posted strong sales in November, the firm announced on Friday. The company reported casino sales of approximately KRW41.58 billion (US$37.0 million) for that month, up 14.5 percent from the prior-year period.

Judged month-on-month, November casino sales rose 15.2 percent compared to October.

The year-on-year increase in casino sales was sustained by a 19.7-percent rise in table game sales during the month of November, to nearly KRW36.90 billion. Machine game sales also increased, by 14.7 percent year-on-year, to about KRW4.68 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 11 months of 2018 grew slightly by 0.4 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW446.35 billion.

Table game sales for the January to November period rose by 2.8 percent from the prior-year period to about KRW394.18 billion. Machine game sales declined 14.8 percent in the 11 months to November 30, to nearly KRW52.17 billion.

The casino operator saw its third-quarter net income decline by 21.0 percent year-on-year to approximately KRW26.37 billion. The firm did not provide any reason for the sharp increase in its quarterly results.

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