South Korean casino operator Paradise Co Ltd turned in a disappointing Q3 report card but said business was booming in October.
For the three months ending Sept. 30, revenue at Paradise’s five foreigners-only casinos fell 17.3% year-on-year to KRW 143b (US $124m), while profits fell 48% to KRW 12.3b.
Paradise and other South Korean casinos were hit hard this year by a double-whammy of AWOL Chinese VIP gamblers and an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that put a serious damper on tourist levels.
However, the medical all-clear was sounded a few months back and the casino business has finally begun showing signs of life. Paradise said October’s revenue figure was up 87% from September and up 26% year-on-year, and while sales through the first 10 months of the year are down 12.5%, Paradise hopes to shrink that figure with a strong close to 2015.
SOUTH KOREA BRACES FOR ANOTHER CELEBRITY BETTING SCANDAL
All but one of South Korea’s 17 casinos refuses entry to local residents, leaving South Koreans three options if they wish to play casino games: travel to the remote Kangwon Land casino, play at an internationally licensed online gambling site or take a trip abroad.
This latter category has sparked an investigation by South Korean police into alleged gambling by celebrities and star athletes at so-called “share junket houses,” i.e. VIP gaming rooms located outside South Korea that South Korean authorities claim are jointly run by Korean and local mobsters.
On Friday, the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said it was questioning two mobsters who’d been caught running a share junket house in Macau catering to South Korean businessmen. The two mobsters have reportedly made statements suggesting they’d also entertained a number of South Korean celebs and athletes.
The Korea JoongAng Daily quoted a prosecutor saying the police hadn’t yet officially launched an investigation, but were looking for “direct evidence that the brokers exchanged casino chips and financial logs that show they paid the gamblers [their winnings].”
South Korea underwent a spate of celebrity gambling scandals a couple years ago and several Samsung Lions baseball players and high-level business execs are currently under investigation for gambling overseas. South Korean law calls for stiff penalties for anyone whose gambling is deemed ‘habitual’, i.e. gambling too often or for larger than average stakes, whether at home or abroad.
