South Korean foreigner-only casino operator Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) has suspended operations at a third casino after the government raised the nationwide alert level to curb the latest wave of COVID-19.
Monday represented the 14th consecutive day in which South Korea has recorded more than 300 new infections, with 438 more cases, including 414 locally acquired, seeing the national total reach 34,201 according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
In response, GKL announced it would close its Seven Luck Casino in Busan Lotte Hotel for two weeks from 1 December until 9am on 15 December. The company had last week closed its two casinos within the Seoul metropolitan area, Gangnam COEX and Gangbuk Millenium Seoul Hilton, for a similar period with both currently scheduled to reopen next Tuesday 8 December – although that seems unlikely.
The latest closure comes in response to the southern port city of Busan recording 52 of Monday’s 438 new cases, up from just 21 cases the day before.
Fellow foreigner-only casino operator Paradise Co told Inside Asian Gaming that it had not yet made any decision to close down its own casino in Busan.
GKL said it expects to record a loss of casino net sales for the closure period of KRW5.5 billion (US$5.0 million).
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