Kangwon Land, the sole casino in South Korea that isn’t foreigner-only, reported gross gaming revenue of KRW333.3 billion in the three months to 31 December 2024, up 6.2% year-on-year although down 5.8% compared with Q3.
The year-on improvement was driven by gains in the company’s premium Membership Club segment, which grew by 69.1% year-on-year and 13.7% sequentially to KRW54.1 billion. However, mass tables were down 2.1% year-on-year and 7.9% quarter-on-quarter to KRW148.3 billion. Slots were basically flat versus 3Q24 but declined by 9.7% quarter-on-quarter to KRW131.0 billion.
Kangwon Land said drop amount was up 2.7% year-on-year to KRW1.37 trillion in the December 2024 quarter, aided by a slight 1.0% increase in casino visitors to 575,664. Visitation by foreigners was up 16.5%.
Despite those mixed results, net profit grew by 50.1% year-on-year and 21.8% quarter-on-quarter to KRW110.7 billion, aided by a significantly improved margin of 32.1%.
Kangwon Land announced in September that it will invest US$1.9 billion into a major expansion of its resort, which is a popular skiing destination in winter. The expansion will include a US$128 million investment into a second casino site which it said will “create a more enjoyable gaming environment by addressing the issue of overcrowding in [the] existing casino.”
The new casino facility is planned to cover 16,161 square meters and be located across multiple floors of the High1 Grand Hotel Main Tower, incorporating new VIP rooms with helicopters utilized to fly in both Korean and international visitors, while a sky bridge will link the casino to the nearby High1 Ski and Golf Resort.
Kangwon Land has since been granted permission to increase the total number of gaming tables it operates from 200 to 250 and gaming machines from 1,560 to 1,860, with betting limits in dedicated foreigner-only zones to be increased significantly from KRW300,000 (US$210) currently to KRW300 million (US$210,000).
