Revenue of South Korean casino operator Paradise Co Ltd dropped 20.7 percent in the first half of the year due to a weaker gaming segment.
In a regulatory filing, Paradise Co told the Korean Exchange on Wednesday that its revenue for January to June 30, 2017 was estimated at KRW241.7 billion (US$210.3 million), significantly lower than the KRW304.7 billion ($263.93 million) it posted in the prior-year period.
Paradise saw table game sales tumble by 21.6 percent year-on-year to approximately KRW224.8 billion ($194.72 million). Machine game sales totalled KRW16.9 billion ($14.64 million), a 5.4 percent decline.
The revenue results were collated from Paradise’s four foreigner-only casinos: Walkerhill in Seoul; Jeju Grand on Jeju Island; Busan Casino in the southern port city of Busan; and Paradise City, in Incheon, near the main international airport serving the country’s capital Seoul.
The glitzy $1.1 billion Paradise City, the first Las Vegas-style integrated resort in Northeast Asia, opened on Yeongjong Island on April 20, amid concerns that it may become the latest victim of Beijing’s ire following South Korea’s decision to install an anti-missile battery.
Casino drop – measured as the amount of cash exchanged for chips by customers at casino tables – was at nearly KRW2.32 trillion (US$2.01 billion) in the first six months of 2017, down 4.5 percent year-on-year.
For the month of June, casino revenue slid 27.6 percent year-on-year, to KRW36.9 billion ($31.96 million).
June’s table game sales were down 29 percent to KRW34 billion ($29.45 million) from the prior-year period. Revenue from machine game sales declined 5.7 percent to nearly KRW3.1 billion ($2.68 million).
In May, Paradise reported profit of approximately KRW1.27 billion for the three months ended March 31, down 92 percent from the prior-year period.
