Gambling Popularity
Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) announced on Sept. 7 that the three foreigner-only casinos under its Seven Luck brand surpassed the 1 million mark in terms of attendance as of Aug. 26, 2015.
The average daily number of visitors of Seven Luck casinos reached nearly 4,900 from Jan. to the end of May 2015. However, the figure dropped sharply to 3,200 in June and 2,500 in July, due to the rapid decrease in the number of foreigners who visit Korea after the country confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
With the government declaring the official end to the MERS outbreak at the end of July, the number of foreign travelers is increasing again. Accordingly, the number of Seven Luck casinos guests has increased to 3,500 on an average a day in Aug., being on a very fast recovery track.
As of Aug. 26, the cumulative number of its visitors this year stood at 1,002,315, up nearly 12 percent year-on-year, while its cumulative sales were about the same. It was largely due to the fact that general customers substituted for the decrease in VIP customers. A customer spent approximately 300,000 won (US$249) on average.
Im Byung-soo, CEO of GKL, said, “Unlike other casinos, Seven Luck has been trying to become a leisure place for not only VIP customers but also general travelers as public casinos. Despite numerous unfavorable factors this year, we could maintain sales performance and achieve the 1 million mark in terms of attendance early. This would be a result of our steady efforts to provide the best environment and services to customers.”