South Korean foreigner-only casino operators Paradise Co Ltd and Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) have both seen sequential and year-on-year decline in their March casino sales, according to their respective filings lodged with the Korea Exchange on Thursday.
Paradise Co’s March casino sales reached approximately KRW49.50 billion (US$32.7 million), down 44.0 percent from February’s KRW88.47 billion. Judged year-on-year, the firm’s March casino sales declined 39.6 percent.
Most of Paradise Co’s March sales volume came from table games, accounting for nearly KRW44.09 billion, down 47.5 percent sequentially, and 43.4 percent lower than a year ago.
The South Korea casino operator’s March table drop – the amount paid by customers to purchase gaming chips – amounted to KRW587.74 billion: up 9.7 percent on February but flat compared to a year ago.
Paradise Co directly operates three casino venues: Walkerhill in Seoul; Paradise Jeju on Jeju island; and a property in the port city of Busan. The casino operator also has a venture with Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc that runs the Paradise City casino resort in Incheon, South Korea’s main flight hub.
The casino operator’s March results took its aggregate casino sales for the first three months of this year to KRW229.67 billion, up 1.8 percent year-on-year. Its aggregate table drop for the period was KRW1.76 trillion, up 3.6 percent year-on-year.
Market rival Grand Korea Leisure’s March casino sales amounted to KRW31.98 billion, down 16.0 percent from February’s KRW38.08 billion. Judged year-on-year, its March casino sales dipped 22.8 percent.
Grand Korea Leisure’s March table game sales reached KRW28.44 billion, down 18.2 percent sequentially, and 26.0 percent lower year-on-year. The firm’s casino drop for the month reached KRW339.30 billion, up 18.8 percent sequentially and 13.5 percent higher year-on-year.
Grand Korea Leisure 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 group is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which in turn is affiliated to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The latest results took Grand Korea Leisure’s casino sales for the January to March period to KRW106.65 billion, down 1.5 percent year-on-year. The casino operator’s aggregate drop for the period was KRW931.03 billion, up 12.6 percent year-on-year.
