From 20 hours to 18 hours a day
Kangwon Land Inc., operator of the only casino in South Korea open to locals, could see gross gaming revenues shrink as the government limits all forms of locals gambling.
In a filing to the Korea Stock Exchange, the company announced it has been ordered to cut its operating hours from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily starting April 1. The casino currently operates from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m.
In addition, according to GGRAsia, Kangwon Land has been ordered to reduce the number of mass gaming tables in its casino from 180 to a maximum of 160.
In a January note, brokerage JP Morgan Securities Ltd. said fewer hours “should have some direct revenue impact (up to 10 percent, if we simply assume Kangwon Land’s revenue is evenly split during operating hours).”
The brokerage said the changes could portend “further regulatory tightening and increasing oversight of local gambling, possibly throughout this administration, and we believe Kangwon Land has no choice but to keep curbing its revenues to avoid further scrutiny for a good while.”
Located in a remote highland area about 90 miles from the capital city of Seoul posted a 10 percent decline in revenue for the third quarter of 2017.
