South Korea’s Paradise Co revenue down by 30% in May

dise Co reported a fall in revenue of 30% for May in a filing to the Korean Exchange.

The company disclosed revenue of KRW41.59bn (US$37.1m) compared to KRW59.72bn in the prior-year period. There was also a year-on-year decline in both table games and machine revenues of 30.9% and 20.3% respectively.

The overall decrease in gaming revenue for Paradise Co coincides with the declining number of Chinese visitors to South Korea since the start of the year.

Commentators have pointed to the impact of the diplomatic row between China and South Korea over the latter’s installation of a US- supplied missile system, and indeed, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea in Q1 fell by 25.8% year-on-year, according to data from the Korea Tourism Organisation.

Paradise Co operates four foreigner-only casinos: Walkerhill in Seoul; Juju Grand on Jeju Island; Busan Casino in Busan, and Paradise City in Incheon.