Gaming revenue increases in South Korea

The foreigners-only casinos in South Korea have registered an improved financial performance.

The growth in international tourism in the country is boding well for the country’s gambling industry too, as the revenue in foreigners-only casinos have reported an increase in their numbers since the beginning of 2018. The local press reports that the industry had experienced a rough time last year when the Chinese government set a “retaliation over a diplomatic row,” which reduced visits to casinos.

This morning the Korea Casino Association published the financial report on gaming activities, which reveals that sales in January and February achieved US$191.56 million, which represents an increase of 15.9% in comparison with the same period of 2017.

The results show an improvement compared to last year’s decline (due to a low number of international visits to South Korean foreigners-only casinos). “The local gambling industry took a hard fall in 2017 after China restricted its nationals from going on package tours to South Korea to protest the latter’s hosting of a U.S. missile defence system on its soil,” explained a local source.

Despite the downturn, Chinese group tours have been allowed again after Seoul and Beijing set aside the dispute in November last year.

Source: focusgn.com