According to data from the Korea Casino Association (KCA), the decline coincided with a 64% decrease in the number of visits to the country’s 16 foreigner-only casinos.

The casinos suffered from several closures due to the pandemic, which began in early 2020. Two major operators, Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) and Paradise Co Ltd, both closed the doors to their Seoul properties throughout the year and indeed into 2021. 

The former shut down operations on its two venues in the city on 24 November, initially to be reopened on 15 February. That has since been extended to 1 March. GKL’s Busan casino meanwhile was temporarily shut down on 1 December. The latter reopened its Seoul venue on 4 January, having been closed since 15 December, having initially planned to reopen on 28 December.

GKL earlier this month reported a loss of KRW64.3bn, with Paradise Co reporting gambling sales of KRW335.3bn for full-year 2020. And Kangwon Land Inc, operator of the Kangwon Land resort - the only provider of casino gaming to South Korean nationals - reported accumulated sales for full-year 2020 of KRW478.6bn.