Kangwon Land, the only South Korean casino in which locals are allowed to gamble, has announced that it will restart preliminary operations of its casino as of midday on Friday.
The soft relaunch, 11 weeks after the casino first closed its doors on 23 February, comes three days earlier than expected with the company having previously announced it would remain closed until at least next Monday 11 May.
In a Thursday filing to the Korea Stock Exchange, Kangwon said its total losses during the closure are estimated to have totalled KRW267.8 billion (US$218.6 million) based on average daily casino sales in 2019.
The decision to reopen comes after foreigner-only operator Paradise Co recommenced operations at all four of its casinos as of 20 April, while Grand Korea Leisure reopened its properties this week.
South Korea has reported just 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the past three days with all of them being international passenger arrivals.
