South Korean casino operator Paradise Company Limited has reportedly released its financial results for May showing that it had experienced a 51.2% year-on-year decrease in aggregated gaming revenues to just over $24.45 million.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, the Seoul-listed firm is responsible for the giant Paradise City integrated casino resort near the city of Incheon but was forced to shutter this 711-room facility with its foreigner-only gaming floor for a four-week period from March 23 as part of the nationwide effort to curtail the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus consequences:

It was further reported that fears over coronavirus had similarly compelled Paradise Company Limited to temporarily shut the hotel-based casinos it runs in the cities of Seoul, Jeju and Busan. The source reported that these closures had seriously hurt the firm’s April gaming revenues and forced its reckoning for that month down to approximately $6.51 million.

Respectable results:

Prominent brokerage firm JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited reportedly used a filing to describe Paradise Company Limited’s May tally as ‘quite decent’ seeing as the ongoing almost complete closure of the nation’s borders has made its gaming business totally reliant on foreign nationals living in South Korea.

Reportedly read the analysis from JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited…

“Put simply, demand from local expats seems to have fully recovered to the pre-pandemic level right off the bat, suggesting that pent-up demand is very real. Hopefully this will be replicated in other gaming jurisdictions if and when their business resumes.”

Drop decline:

Paradise moreover detailed that its revenues from gaming tables in May had plummeted by 52.4% year-on-year to slightly above $22.42 million with associated drop having nose-dived by 68.7% to about $150.52 million. The operator purportedly experienced a 32.4% dip in associated takings from slots for the 31-day month to around $1.98 million while its combined casino earnings since the start of the year now stand some 31.3% lower at roughly $157.74 million.