NEWS
6 July 2021
GKL reports $13m in casino sales for June
By Violeta Prockyte

Total net sales for the second quarter of 2021 were KRW33.8bn, almost a 400% growth from Q1. Losses for Q2 were KRW2.5bn, with KRW882m in June.

In June, table games earned KRW13.3bn, with a total of KRW28.8bn for Q2, while slot machines earned only KRW1bn for the month and KRW5bn for the quarter.

Net sales for the six months of the 2021 financial year total to KRW40.3bn, a significant drop from the approximate KRW133bn recorded for the first two quarters of 2020.

GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organisation and associated with the Government through the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The company operates several foreigner-only casinos in the country: Seoul Gangnam Casino, Seoul Hilton Casino and Busan Lotte Casino.

Seoul Gangnam Casino reported KRW8.9bn in net sales for June, while Seoul Hilton Casino earned KRW4.9bn and Busan Lotte Casino recorded KRW1bn. Nearly 66% of casino visitors in June were from China, with local players making up only 4%.

Despite the recovering revenue figures, GKL is still feeling the effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of international travel.

It was recently announced that the Millenium Hilton Seoul Hotel, together with the GKL casino, will be torn down and replaced by an office building. The hotel was sold to Aegis Asset Management, a domestic real estate fund manager, due to a lack of visitors and customers as a result of Covid-19.