written and last updated by
Sam Smith at
07 Mar 2023
Journalist, Editorial Department
After a period of pandemic-related restrictions, revenues from South Korean casinos catering to foreign visitors are beginning to recover. Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) has released a new financial report indicating that its sales for February reached just over 36.77 billion South Korean won (approximately 2.1 billion rubles). This marks a 14.5% increase compared to January, and a staggering 437.2% rise compared to February 2022.
Table games showed the strongest financial performance, with revenues soaring nearly 525% year-on-year, generating 34.32 billion won (around 2 billion rubles). Slot machines also performed well, bringing in 2.46 billion won (approximately 142.5 million rubles) this February, which is an 81.7% increase from the previous year and an 18.6% rise from the previous month.
The first two months of this year have continued the upward trend observed throughout much of 2022. GKL reported a revenue of 265.17 billion won (15.36 billion rubles) last year, a remarkable 196% increase compared to 2021. However, the company also recorded a net loss of 22.74 billion won (1.3 billion rubles), although this is significantly better than the much larger loss of 113.2 billion won (over 6.5 billion rubles) in 2021. Notably, the fourth quarter of 2022 was quite successful, exceeding third-quarter revenues by 24.6% and fourth-quarter revenues from 2021 by 330%.
Paradise Co. and its four casinos in South Korea are also gradually emerging from the crisis. Despite a 7.2% decline in revenues compared to January, February's results still surpassed last year's figures by 163%. Meanwhile, Shin Hwa World Ltd., which operates the Jeju Shinhwa World resort in Jeju, reported losses for 2022, though these were not as severe as the losses incurred in 2021.
In related news, Wynn Resorts is considering the development of another Las Vegas Strip in the UAE.
