VIP players from Japan are already heading back to Korea following the recent reopening of international borders, according to Japanese gaming giant Sega Sammy Holdings.
Outlining the prospects of the group’s Korean integrated resort Paradise City – a joint venture with local foreigner-only casino firm Paradise Co – in its June quarter results release, Sega Sammy said it expects recovery is now well underway as it looks to boost international visitation to the property.
This is despite casino drop reaching just 16.0% of pre-COVID levels and visitation just 31.8% for the quarter. Paradise City results were calculated for the three months to 31 March 2022 due to its fiscal year finishing three months earlier than Sega Sammy’s other business segments, which were all calculated from April to June.
“For Paradise City, visits of Japanese VIPs have been resumed due to partially relaxed travel restriction from June 2022, and the group will continue to enhancing marketing and strengthening the ability to acquire guests,” the company said.
It also noted that visitation the group’s non-gaming resort, Phoenix Seagaia Resort, in Japan was already back to pre-COVID levels, pushing total sales for the resort segment to JPY 2.65 billion (US$19.6 million) – up 70.9% year-on-year. Ordinary loss of JPY 1.27 billion (US$9.4 million) was narrowed from a loss of JPY 1.96 billion (US$14.5 million) a year earlier.
In the company’s pachinko and pachislot segment, net grew 1.9% to JPY 10.56 billion (US$78.2 million) with loss more than halved to JPY 646 million (US$4.8 million).
However, led by the Entertainment Contents segment, Sega Sammy reported a group-wide 11.2% increase in net sales to JPY 66.1 billion (US$490 million) with profit attributable to owners of the parent rising 7.4% to JPY 3.16 billion (US$23.4 million).
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Paradise Co – which owns 55% of Paradise City – last week announced a 297% year-on-year and 110% sequential increase in casino revenue in July following the resumption of international tourist arrivals. Those figures also include revenue from the company’s three other casinos in Paradise Walker-hill in Seoul, Jeju Grand, and Busan Casino.
