Kangwon Land casino extends pause to October 12

Oct 05, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Kangwon Land Inc, the promoter of Kangwon Land (pictured), the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, has extended until 6am on October 12 the temporary closure of its gaming facilities. Previously, it said the shutdown would last until October 5.

The latest extension comes as South Korea continues to apply community measures to contain Covid-19 infections in the nation.

The Kangwon Land site had first been shuttered earlier in February, near the start of the pandemic emergency. It resumed some casino operations in May, but only for VIP areas, rather than the main floor. Closure had been reactivated on August 23, amid a spike of infections nationally.

In a Sunday filing to the Korea Exchange, Kangwon Land said it expected lost casino sales – for the period from 10am on August 23, to 6am on October 12 – to amount to KRW62.7 billion (US$53.9 million), based on daily-average casino sales during the first half of 2020.

The Kangwon Land resort is about 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the country’s capital Seoul.

Authorities in South Korea had extended last week enhanced measures against the spread of Covid-19.

South Korea reported 73 more Covid-19 cases as of midnight Sunday, raising the aggregate number of infections in the country to 24,164, according to a dedicated website of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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