S. Korea’s GKL reopens casinos after 43-day pause

May 07, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), a South Korean operator of casinos that serve only foreign players, resumed gaming operations on Wednesday (May 6), according to local media reports. The firm had a 43-day casino shutdown starting from March 24, amid the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company – an affiliate of the Korea Tourism Organization – runs three foreigner-only casinos in that nation under the ‘Seven Luck’ brand. Prior to the reported restart, it had twice extended the shutdown period.

The resumption coincides with moves in South Korea starting on Wednesday to ease some of the so-called social distancing measures that had been in force since early March. The decision to ease the rules was made amid a slowdown in the number of new Covid-19 infection cases, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of the start of Thursday, South Korea had recorded only two new cases in the previous 24 hours.

South Korea had – as of midnight on Wednesday, a total of 10,806 cases of Covid-19 infection, the illness associated with a novel coronavirus, with 255 deaths.

The government has not yet lifted quarantine requirements and entry restrictions for foreign visitors.

But the country’s biggest airline measured by sales, Korean Air Lines Co, indicated on Thursday that it would reopen dozens of its international routes in June, including services to the city-state of Singapore, to China’s capital Beijing, and to Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur, reported Yonhap, citing a statement by the airline.

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