Paradise Co, GKL casino rev up Feb amid S.Korea virus fear

Mar 03, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Casino revenue at Paradise Co Ltd, a South Korean operator of foreigner-only casinos, rose 16.2 percent year-on-year in February – a calendar leap year –  it said in a Tuesday filing to the Korea Exchange. Such revenue was KRW64.30 billion (US$53.84 million), compared to KRW55.36 billion in February 2019.

Paradise Co’s gaming operations are at: Walkerhill in Seoul; Jeju Grand on Jeju Island; Busan Casino in the southern port city of Busan; and Paradise City (pictured), in Incheon, near the main international airport serving the country’s capital Seoul.

Meanwhile at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), another operator of foreigner-only casinos in South Korea, casino sales for February rose 38.1 percent year-on-year. Such sales were KRW43.96 billion, versus KRW31.82 billion a year earlier.

GKL – a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization – 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.

At Paradise Co in February, table revenue was KRW60.46 billion, up 18.7 percent on the KRW50.95 billion achieved in the prior-year reporting period. But gaming machine revenue was down 12.9 percent, at KRW3.84 billion, versus KRW4.41 billion in February 2019.

Paradise Co’s accumulated casino revenue for the first two months of 2020 was up 21.8 percent, at KRW135.70 billion, from KRW111.46 billion.

Accumulated table revenue for the two months to February 29 rose 24.1 percent from the first two months of 2019, when February that year had the more usual 28 days. Such table revenue this year was KRW127.95 billion, from KRW103.07 billion in the prior-year period.

The running total for gaming machine revenue in the first two months of 2020 was down 7.6 percent year-on-year, at KRW7.75 billion, from KRW8.39 billion.

GKL gaming, Paradise City non-gaming

GKL – a market rival to Paradise Co for foreigner-only casino business – meanwhile reported its table games sales were up 50.4 percent year-on-year in February, although its gaming machine sales fell 32.5 percent.

Sales for table games were KRW40.79 billion, from KRW27.13 billion, while sales of machine games were KRW3.17 billion, from nearly KRW4.70 billion in February 2019.

GKL’s accumulated casino sales for the first two months of 2020 were KRW98.54 billion, versus KRW66.53 billion a year earlier, an improvement of 48.1 percent.

Aggregate table games sales for the two months to February 29 this year were KRW89.80 billion, up 57.4 percent year-on-year. GKL’s machine game sales for the opening months of 2020 were down 7.6 percent year-on-year, at KRW8.74 billion.

In other developments, a message on the website of Paradise City said some non-gaming facilities had been temporarily closed at the resort in response to the South Korean government’s declaration on Saturday that the country was at a “critical moment” in its fight to contain a novel coronavirus infection. The shuttered non-gaming facilities at Paradise City are: the Cimer spa; the Wonderbox theme park; the Chroma nightclub; and the Studio Paradise media production facility.

Paradise Co – which runs Paradise City via a venture with Japan’s Sega Sammy Holdings Inc – had on Thursday told GGRAsia it was not as of that time considering closing its gaming venues.

On Friday Kangwon Land Inc, operator of the only casino resort in South Korea where the country’s nationals are allowed to gamble, said it had decided to extend – for a second time – the temporary closure of its gaming venue. The resort will now see its casino remain shuttered until 6am on March 9.

A Tuesday online announcement from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 600 additional cases of infection with Covid-19 disease linked to the novel coronavirus had been confirmed in South Korea as of Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases at that point to 4,812, with 28 deaths.

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