GGRAsia – S. Korea’s GKL September casino sales decline 6pct

S. Korea’s GKL September casino sales decline 6pct

Oct 09, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

South Korean gaming operator Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) posted a year-on-year fall in casino sales for September, the firm announced on Friday. The company reported casino sales of KRW40.01 billion (US$33.4 million) for that month, down 5.7 percent from the prior-year period.

Judged month-on-month, September casino sales declined by 24.5 percent compared to August.

The year-on-year contraction in such sales was due to a 7.3-percent decrease in table game sales during the month of September, to nearly KRW34.72 billion. Machine game sales recorded an increase of 6.7 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW5.29 billion, the firm said in a filing to the Korea Exchange.

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

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 nine months of 2019 fell by 2.3 percent year-on-year, to approximately KRW360.13 billion. Table game sales for the period were down 3.3 percent to about KRW315.10 billion, while machine game sales increased by 5.2 percent to KRW45.03 billion.

GKL said in August that its second-quarter net profit fell to just over KRW20.05 billion, a 26.2-percent decline compared to a year earlier.