Korea’s government-run foreigners-only casino operator, Grand Korea Leisure (GKL), saw casino sales jump 16.7% year-on-year in May on the back of strong results from table games.
Casino sales reached KRW40.6 billion (US$37.9 million) for the month, up from KRW35.8 billion in May 2017 and representing an increase of 2.7% over April’s numbers.
Table games were the hero of the story, with sales growing 21.8% year-on-year to KRW35.6 billion (US$33.1 million) – more than making amends for a 10.3% decline in electronic gaming machine sales to KRW5 billion.
For the first five months of the year combined, GKL’s sales are up 3.6% on 2017 levels to KRW202.1 billion (US$188 million).
GKL, a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, operates two casinos in Seoul and one in Busan under its Seven Luck brand.
May proved to be a solid month for the country’s gaming industry with Paradise Co having announced last week a 25.2% increase in casino sales to KRW52 billion (US$48.5 million). That figure also represented a 36.0% sequential increase for Korea’s only integrated resort operator.