Gambling turnover at South Korea’s foreigner-only casinos for full-year 2020 fell by 58.7% from the prior-year period, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Korea Casino Association (KCA), an industry trade body. Such 2020 gambling turnover was KRW595.4 billion (US$534.8 million), compared to just under KRW1.45 trillion in 2019.
The decrease coincided with an approximately 64% decline year-on-year in the aggregate of visits to South Korea’s 16 foreigner-only casinos, according to the data released. The association didn’t give a precise number for 2020 visits, but in 2019 industry-wide, the tally was 3,233,761, according to data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, issued in April 2020.
Due to Covid-19 countermeasures, many South Korean casinos have had several suspensions of operations recently, beginning in early 2020.
The country’s casino sector has been complaining to the national government about the latter’s alleged lack of support during the pandemic. Cited as an example was the fact that the central authorities had not exempted during the crisis – and the related sharp decline in inbound tourists’ payment of the “Tourism Promotion and Development Fund” fees due from the industry.
South Korean casinos paid approximately KRW300 billion (US$269.2 million) to that mandatory fund in 2019. The deadline for 2020 payments to the fund is under “a grace period” currently.
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