Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited chalks up a disappointing January

South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited reportedly saw its aggregated gross gaming revenues for January drop by a little over 3.5% month-on-month to approximately $8.1 million.

According to a report from GGRAsia, the Seoul-headquartered firm chalked up combined gaming receipts of $8.4 million for the final month of 2021, which was some 147.7% higher than November’s tally despite a decision from the government to introduce a range of new measures to help fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prudent portfolio:

Established in 2004, Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited is reportedly responsible for a trio of Seven Luck-branded casinos located inside South Korea’s Intercontinental Seoul Coex, Lotte Hotel Busan and Millennium Hilton Seoul hotels. The company purportedly announced late last year that it had inked a deal that will see its foreigner-only operation inside this latter property relocated to the nearby Seoul Dragon City Hotelplex development in the face of its host’s impending demolition.

Slot success:

Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which is itself affiliated to the Asian country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and reportedly saw its aggregated gross table games revenues for January slip by 7.5% month-on-month to roughly $6.8 million. However, the source explained that this unsettling dip was partially offset by an analogous 18% swell in the company’s slot receipts to around $1.3 million.

Disheartening downturn:

GGRAsia disclosed that the January results for Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited were released only a few days after the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revealed that the 16 foreigner-only casinos in South Korea had seen their aggregated gross gaming revenues for the whole of 2021 decrease by 31.9% year-on-year to about $339.2 million. Nevertheless, the left out Kangwon Land Casino venue, which is the nation’s only property where locals are permitted to gamble alongside tourists, purportedly bucked this trend to chalk up a 74.7% boost for the year to nearly $645.6 million.

Productive property:

Operated by local concern Kangwon Land Incorporated, the five-star Kangwon Land Casino facility reportedly furthermore helped the nation’s aggregated gaming revenues for the whole of 2012 swell by 13.4% year-on-year to approximately $984 million. This purportedly came despite the enterprise’s most recent annual tally being some 46% down on the $1.2 billion it recorded for the pre-pandemic twelve months of 2019.

Long-term lag:

Further highlighting the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and GGRAsia reported that last year’s aggregated gross gaming revenues tally from the 17 casinos in South Korea had equated to a significant slump of 59.7% when compared with the slightly beyond $2.4 billion earned for the entirety of 2019.