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The Coronavirus Shockwave Hits South Korea’s Casino Operators

Article by : Helen Dec 8, 2020

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Many countries witness new COVID-19 spikes these days, and some South Korean regions are no exception as well. The information about the new restrictions appeared on November 18 and since the following day, the city of Gyeonggi, Gwangju province, some regions of Gangwon-do province, and even Seoul have faced the restrictions. Incheon also joined the list of the regions mentioned above on November 23.

These restrictions mean that the gambling industry is going to take another hit though it hasn’t fully recovered from the previous shutdown. The limitations are imposed on social gatherings; the alert level raised to 2 for Seoul’s capital. The social distancing level in South Korea is 1.5, so there have been imposed limits on the spectator capacity at sports events. The public events and concerts where more than 100 people can gather are banned at all. The Minister of Health and Welfare, Park Neunghoo said in a briefing: “The virus is rapidly spreading across communities in our greater Seoul areas, and the nationwide transmission is underway. Given the severity of the situation and the time required for imposing stricter restrictions, there’s no reason for us to wait for the social-distancing criteria to be met in the coming days.” Though some properties are allowed to work at 30-50% of their capacity, casinos and race betting operations like horses, bicycles, and boats are limited to 20%. This is not the first case when casino operators are suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

South Korea’s major resort, Paradise City, has dealt with two shutdowns earlier this year.

Currently, two casinos operated by Grand Korea Leisure and one casino operated by Paradise Co Ltd are located in Seoul, where the social distancing alert is the highest. As the statistics show, the number of Coronavirus cases has been rapidly growing, and several days ago, the number of infected people exceeded 300 for the first time since August. South Korea’s Disease and Control and Prevention Agency reported 583 new cases and 2 new deaths on November 26. Most of these cases are considered to be domestic transmissions but there are still some infected people who came out of the Seoul area. The total number of Coronavirus cases in South Korea is 32,318, while the number of deaths is 515.

It is forbidden for Paradise and Grand Korea Leisure to accept local people in their properties, meaning the tourists or citizens who have international passports only can visit casinos. The gambling industry is strongly dependent on tourism, which has extremely slowed across Asia, and it is reflected in the operator’s revenues, which are tourist-oriented only.

One of the largest South Korean casino operators, Kangwon Land, has its properties in Gangwon-do province. It is the only place where local citizens are legally allowed to gamble. However, the situation remains unclear as far as this province is highly impacted by COVID-19. The operator is state-run, but the government has been previously ordering the operator to shut its properties even for a longer period than other gambling operators. It is worthy of note that Kangwon Land is 200km far from Seoul and is situated in the mountains. Unlike its rivals, it is pretty isolated, so the casino started its operation with a limited capacity in mid of October. Earlier, the company stated that all guests must be seated, and the gaming floor can accept up to 750 people plus 68 who can use VIP facilities.

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