South Korean foreigner-only casino operator Grand Korea Leisure has reported net income of KRW8.58 billion (US$6.5 million) for the three months to 30 June 2023, down 60.3% quarter-on-quarter but reversing a KRW7.99 billion (US$6.1 million) loss over the same period in 2022.
While the company did not provide any reason for the sequential decline, it did reveal that sales of KRW100.2 billion (US$76.0 million) were down 8.2% compared to Q1 – albeit 109% higher than the same period last year.
The 2Q amount included table game sales of KRW90.6 billion (US$68.7 million), down 8.6% quarter-on-quarter, and slot sales of KRW9.87 billion (US$7.5 million), up 17.5%.
GKL also appeared to run bad given that, while the dominant table games segment suffered a decline in sales compared to the March quarter, casino drop for the period was up 10.9% to KRW836.0 billion (US$634 million). This included an 11.4% increase in table drop to KRW757.1 billion (US$574 million), of which VIP drop accounted for KRW580.4 billion (US$440 million) and mass table drop of KRW176.7 billion (US$134 million).
GKL said that Japanese players contributed the most to VIP table drop at KRW236.1 billion (US$179 million) followed by Chinese players with KRW159.1 billion (US$121 million).
Although net income for the quarter fell sequentially, it did push the company to a profit of KRW30.2 billion (US$22.9 million) for the first six months of 2023 combined, up 39.7% on Q1 and reversing a KRW18.8 billion (US$14.3 million) loss in 1H22.
Operating income fell by 59.6% quarter-on-quarter to KRW11.0 billion (US$8.3 million).
GKL operates three casinos in Seoul and Busan under the Seven Luck brand.
