South Korea's casino industry, which is exclusive to foreigners, presented a mixed performance report in March. According to the latest financial report from Paradise Co, despite an increase in table game chip exchange volume, the overall gambling revenue saw a significant decline. In March, the company recorded gambling revenue of 49.5 billion Korean Won (approximately 32.8 million USD), a year-on-year decrease of 39.6%, and a month-on-month decline of 44.0%. Interestingly, the amount of money players used to exchange for chips—i.e., the chip exchange volume—reached 587.7 billion Korean Won (approximately 389 million USD), an increase of 9.7% from the previous month. This indicates that the number of customers did not decrease, they were just less lucky.
Table game revenue plummeted, while slot machines grew against the trend
Paradise Co operates three casinos in Seoul, Busan, and Jeju Island, and holds a 55% stake in the Incheon Paradise City integrated resort (a joint venture with Japan's Sega Sammy Holdings). In March, table games contributed 44 billion Korean Won (approximately 29.1 million USD) in revenue, but this was a sharp drop of 43.4% year-on-year, and a 47.5% decline from the previous month. Meanwhile, revenue from slot machines and other electronic games grew by 33.1% year-on-year, reaching 5.42 billion Korean Won (approximately 3.6 million USD), providing some compensation for the overall performance. From a quarterly perspective, the total gambling revenue from January to March amounted to 229.7 billion Korean Won (approximately 152 million USD), a slight increase of 1.8% year-on-year, with table game revenue growing by 1.0% and slot machine revenue by 23.6%. The quarterly chip exchange volume also rose by 3.6% to 1.76 trillion Korean Won. This means that despite significant monthly fluctuations, the overall activity level remains relatively stable.
Peer GKL also faced "high chip exchange, low income"
Paradise Co is not alone. Another major casino operator catering to foreigners, Grand Korea Leisure, also reported a similar trend. GKL's gambling revenue in March was 31.98 billion Korean Won, a month-on-month decrease of 16.0% and a year-on-year decrease of 22.8%. Table game revenue decreased by 18.2% month-on-month and 26.0% year-on-year to 28.44 billion Korean Won. However, its monthly chip exchange volume reached 339.3 billion Korean Won, an increase of 18.8% month-on-month and 13.5% year-on-year. GKL operates three casinos under the Seven Luck brand (two in Seoul, one in Busan) and is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization. In the first quarter, GKL's total gambling revenue decreased by 1.5% year-on-year, but the cumulative chip exchange volume increased by 12.6% to 931.03 billion Korean Won. This "increase in chip exchange volume, decrease in revenue" divergence indicates that the outcomes of table games have a significant impact on short-term performance. Although slot machines continue to grow, they still represent a small proportion of overall revenue and cannot fully offset the fluctuations in table games. For more updates on the Asian gambling market, keep an eye on PASA's official website.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leader" gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Original in-depth gambling channel: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
