2018 was a hit-and-miss year for many casino operators, including two of the main foreigner-only companies based in South Korea. Paradise Co. Ltd. saw its revenue increase by 15.8% in the whole of 2018, while Grand Korea Leisure Ltd (GKL) – its main rival – reported a drop in casino sales of approximately 1.8%.
According to a filing from earlier today, Paradise Co. said that it had $570.6 million in sales across the entirety of last year. Its table revenue increased by 15.7% year-on-year to $532.41 million from the $460.1 million it reported in 2017. Slot machine revenue jumped 16.9% year-on-year, coming in at $38.07 million.
The numbers are the combined totals from its four venues in South Korea. These include Busan Casino in the southern port city of the same name, Paradise City in Incheon, Jeju Grand on Jeju Island, and Walkerhill in Seoul. The possible reasons for the increases were not made released in the filing.
Paradise City wrapped up its phase one last year when it put the final touches on more non-gaming activities. The resort is being developed through a partnership with Japan-based Sega Sammy Holdings and phase one carried a price tag of $1.4 billion according to previous information released by the companies. Phase Two is expected to open at some point during the first half of this year and will include, among other activities, the Wonderbox indoor theme park.
While Paradise was going up, GKL was going down. Its total casino revenue fell last year, brought about by a decline in machine sales. In a filing last Friday, the company reported a total of $431.14 million in casino sales with a 14.4% year-over-year decline in machine revenue to $51.38 million. Table revenue remained virtually unchanged from 2017, increasing only 0.1% to $379.73 million. It had a horrible December, reporting a 22.8% decrease, to $32.26 million, in casino sales.
GKL belongs to the Korea Tourism Organization, which is a part of the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The company operated three foreigner-only casinos in the country through its Seven Luck brand – two in Seoul and one in Busan.
