Total numbers down from August
South Korean casino operator the Paradise Co. Ltd. posted a 19 percent year-on-year revenue gain for September to KRW41.6 billion (US$37.2 million), principally due to a 21.7 percent growth in table games to KRW38.63 billion ($37.3 billion). Gaming machine revenue declined 7.8 percent to KRW3 billion.
The company also saw Chinese VIP volume grow 1 percent year-on-year in September, the first growth for the sector in two years.
“While not exactly apples-to-apples given that Chinese VIP gamblers in Korea tend to be of much lower value than Chinese VIPs in Macau, we are encouraged that any established market is beginning to see growth in Chinese VIP,” said Union Gaming Securities Asia analyst Grant Govertsen. “Sequential VIP gaming volume trends in South Korea are beginning to show signs of sequential stabilization with September VIP volume nearly equal to August VIP volume despite what would normally be a notable sequential decline due to seasonality; at the very least the sequential declines are getting much less worse.”
The rise in year-on-year revenues has also been attributed in part to lackluster results for summer 2015. Tourism took a big hit after an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome caused visitor arrivals to plummet for the season.
Despite the surge for September, revenues were down 28.2 percent on a month-to-month basis, reported the Asia Gaming Brief. August revenues totaled KRW57.98 billion (US$51.9 million). The figures are based on Paradise’s Walkerhill, Incheon Casino, Jeju Grand and Busan Casino properties, according to CalvinAyre.com.
