Korea casino op GKL’s January sales up 230pct

Casino sales at Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL), an operator in South Korea of foreigner-only casinos, rose by 230.2 percent year-on-year in January, to nearly KRW32.09 billion (US$26.1 million), the firm said in a Friday filing to the Korea Exchange. The latest monthly tally was up 5.0 percent month-on-month.

In the latest reporting month, table-game sales were KRW29.07 billion, up 257.3 percent from the prior-year period, and a 2.5-percent increase sequentially. Machine-game sales were just below KRW3.02 billion, up 90.6 percent from a year ago, and a 38.4-percent increase month-on-month.

The firm gave no commentary on the reasons for either change.

Grand Korea Leisure’s casino sales for full-year 2022 rose by 196.0 percent year-on-year, to nearly KRW265.17 billion.

The company runs three foreigner-only Seven Luck-branded casinos: two in the capital Seoul, including in Gangnam, and one in the southeastern port city of Busan.

The group closed on December 30 its Seoul Gangbuk venue in the Millennium Hilton Hotel, and transferred the gaming operation to Seoul Dragon City, with effect from December 31.

In December it was announced that Grand Korea Leisure was to reduce the size of its China marketing team, and reduce by one-third the number of its liaison offices in Japan.