South Korean casino operators Paradise Co and Grand Korea Leisure have seen their casino sales plummet in November, with both reporting declines of more than 50%.
While neither company provided any specific reason for the latest decline, it is almost certainly related to recent social distancing measures implemented by the government in response to the latest wave of COVID-19. South Korea last week raised the alert level for the greater Seoul region to level 2, and to level 1.5 for much of the country, with more than 300 daily cases having been reported for almost three weeks now and topping 500 cases on each of the past three days.
Korean media reported last month that all casinos located within the greater Seoul area, including Incheon – home to Paradise Co’s integrated resort Paradise City – were to restrict guest numbers to 20% capacity from 19 November.
On Wednesday, the nation’s leading foreigner-only casino operator, Paradise Co, reported casino sales of KRW9.75 billion (US$8.9 million) for November, down 56.4% on October numbers and 85.4% compared with the same month in 2019. The decline in sales was, however, in stark contrast to turnover which actually increased by 11.2% compared with October to KRW139.62 billion (US$12.8 million), suggesting either shocking luck or unusually low margins.
Casino sales for Paradise Co, which operates Paradise City in Incheon, Paradise Walkerhill, Busan Casino and Jeju Grand casinos, are now down 59.0% through the first 11 months of the year to KRW293.03 billion (US$268.4 million). All four casinos remain open for business despite the latest social distancing restrictions on capacity.
Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) also took a big hit, just days after suspending operations at a third casino in response to the government’s latest restrictions. The company last week closed its two casinos within the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangnam COEX and Gangbuk Millenium Seoul Hilton, for two weeks from 24 November to 8 December before adding Seven Luck Casino in Busan Lotte Hotel to the list, which will remain closed from 1 December until 15 December.
On Thursday, GKL reported a 50.6% decline in casino sales versus October to KRW5.49 billion (US$5.0 million), representing an 87.8% fall compared with November 2019.
Turnover was down 26.5% sequentially to KRW61.95 billion (US$56.7 million), while sales for the first 11 months of 2020 are now down 57.9% to KRW186.02 billion (US$170.4 million).
RelatedPosts
