South Korea’s Paradise Co saw its casino revenue plummet in September, falling 84.0% compared with August and 53.6% year-on-year to KRW9.55 billion (US$8.0 million).
The decline comes as Korea continues to battle rising cases of COVID-19, including more than 2,000 cases per day between 26 September and 3 October. Case numbers have dropped to around 1,600 on each of the past two days although the decline has been attributed to fewer tests being conducted.
While there are no current restrictions imposed on casino operations in the capital city or surrounding areas, including Incheon, the city of Seoul has been under Level 4 restrictions since 12 July which include some limits on businesses and a ban on private gatherings. The alert level was extended by another two weeks on Monday.
While Paradise – which operates Paradise Walkerhill in Seoul, Jeju Grand, Busan Casino Paradise and Paradise City in Incheon – didn’t provide any reason for the September decline in casino revenue, it did note a 44.4% sequential and 24.8% year-on-year fall in table drop to KRW102.27 billion (US$102.3 million).
For the first nine months of 2021, casino revenue is down 27.7% year-on-year to KRW188.71 billion (US$158.9 million).
Fellow foreigner-only casino operator Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) reported similar casino revenue of KRW9.42 billion (US$7.9 million) in September, although the figure represented a 7.0% improvement over August and was essentially flat versus September 2020.
Table drop of KRW70.43 billion (US$59.3 million) was slightly down month-on-month while for the first nine months of the year table drop is down 60.3% to KRW508.69 billion (US$428.4 million).
GKL operates two casinos in Seoul and one in Busan under its Seven Luck brand.
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