S. Korea’s GKL October casino sales up 1pct

Nov 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 October rose by 1.0 percent year-on-year, to nearly KRW36.45 billion (US$31.4 million).

Judged month-on-month, October casino sales declined by 8.9 percent compared to September, according to a Wednesday filing.

The year-on-year increase in casino sales was due to a 3.8-percent rise in table game sales during the month of October, to about KRW32.61 billion. Machine game sales declined by 18.1 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW3.84 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 October results contrast with the latest monthly sales reported by market rival Paradise Co Ltd. The latter company said on Monday that its casino revenue grew to approximately KRW80.90 billion in October, 11.0 percent more than one month earlier and 15.4 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 10 months of 2019 fell by 2.0 percent year-on-year, to just below KRW396.58 billion.

Table game sales for the period were down 2.7 percent to about KRW347.71 billion, while machine game sales increased by 2.9 percent to KRW48.88 billion.

GKL said in August that its second-quarter net profit fell by 26.2 percent in year-on-year terms to just over KRW20.05 billion. The firm stated second-quarter sales grew by 1 percent year-on-year to KRW117.36 billion.

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