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Grand Korea Leisure Records 60% Profit Decline In Q2 2023
Grand Korea Leisure (GKL), the Korean casino operator, reported net income of 8.58 billion won ($6.5 million) for the second quarter of 2023. As reported by Inside Asian Gaming (IAG), the figure for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 was down 60.3 percent from the previous quarter. However, its second quarter results reportedly recorded a loss of 7.99 billion won ($6.1 million) for the same period of 2022.
Reduced sales:
The same source reported that the company's sales reached the KRW 100.2 billion (US$76 million) level during the period, which was 8.2 percent lower than the first quarter. Nevertheless, the second quarter of 2023 was 109 percent stronger than the second quarter of 2022 across three properties in Seoul and Busan that were run under the Seven Luck brand. As GGRAsia reported, Grand Korea Leisure is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, which is managed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
IAG said table game sales fell 8.6% quarter-on-quarter in the last quarter, while slot sales rebounded 17.5% to 9.87 billion won ($7.5 million). Casino net game sales, on the other hand, rose 10.9% to settle at 83.6 million won ($634 million) in the second quarter of 2023, while bulk table sales reportedly grew 6.8% to 176.7 billion won ($134 million).
VIP Segment Improvement:
GKL reportedly revealed that the Japanese and Chinese players made significant contributions to the operation of the business at two casinos located in Seoul and one in Busan. They reportedly spent 236.1 billion won ($179 million) and 159.1 billion won ($121 million) on VIP table games, respectively, to help the company post decent profits in the second quarter of 2023.
$23 million in profit:
This means that GKL's Q2 net income achieved a profit of 30.2 billion won ($22.9 million) in the first half of 2023, despite an overall decline of about 60% below the Q1 2023 figure. Similar to Q2 2023 earnings, H1 2023 earnings cover a loss of 18.8 billion won ($14.3 million) sustained in H1 2022.
60% decrease in total game sales:
In addition, total gaming revenue was 11 billion won ($8.3 million) as of June 30, 2023, following net profit, down 59.6% quarter-on-quarter.
Based on the data above, Grand Korea Leisure said it will introduce additional promotional efforts to bring more overseas VIP casino customers to the game table. As GGRAsia reported, these activities will focus on the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka, as well as customers from Taiwan, Mongolia, and Southeast Asia.