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A NUMBER of casino operators in South Korea recorded heavy losses in 2020 due to the corona virus pandemic which caused the number of visitors to drop dramatically.
Quoted from The Korea Times recently, a state-run casino operator, Kangwon Land Inc. recorded an operating loss of 431.6 billion won (US$382 million) last year, a sharp change from the operating profit of 501.2 billion won a year earlier.
Kangwon Land, the only casino in the country open to locals, is located in Jeongseon, about 200 kilometers east of Seoul. Another state-owned casino operator, Grand Korea Leisure Co. (GKL), posted an operating loss of 88.8 billion won, compared to an operating profit of 96.8 billion won.
The company operates three foreign-only casinos in Seoul and Busan under the brand name Seven Luck. The private casino operator Paradise Group also incurred an operating loss of 86.2 billion won in 2020 from an operating profit of 51.9 billion won. Paradise runs four casinos in Seoul, Incheon, Jeju, and Busan.
The huge loss of casino operators was due to the social distancing measures caused by the coronavirus forcing them to temporarily shut down their sites repeatedly. Last year, Kangwon Land’s sales plunged 68.5% on year to 478.6 billion won, with GKL slumping 62.4% to 184.5 billion won. Paradise’s top row also slumped 53.7% to 453.9 billion won.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, these casino companies have also had to cut their employee numbers, with Kangwon Land itself reducing its workforce by 3,713 to nearly 28%. [sources/photo special]
