It’s already the third quarter of 2020 and casinos everywhere continue to see revenue losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. As desperately as the gambling industry would have liked to have seen a quick recovery, this year is essentially going to be a write-off for many operators. While some areas have been able to start reporting gains, many are still in the red. Kangwon Land Inc. and Paradise Co. Ltd. fall into the latter category with their South Korea casino operations, with both seeing continued drops that began soon after 2020 got underway. 

 Kangwon Land’s eponymous casino in South Korea is still feeling considerable pressure, reporting a loss of $38.4 million for the second quarter of the year. That followed a loss of $131.68 million from the first quarter, and completely wiped out the $42.97 million profit it reported for Q2 of 2019. The Kangwon Land casino is the only property that has been approved for local gamblers and was forced to shut down from February 23 to May 8 because of COVID-19. When it opened, the casino only welcomed back VIP gamblers at first. 

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for Q2 plummeted 91.4% year-on-year and 85.9% quarter-over-quarter. The figure stood at $23.88 million, with total sales at the venue dropping 90.5% to $29.22 million. As a result of the continued weak performance, Kangwon Land saw a 63.5% drop in sales across the entire first half of the year, reporting an aggregate loss of $170.1 million. 

Paradise, which is behind four foreigner-only casinos in South Korea, was forced to report a net loss for Q2 of $26.9 million – this was on top of the $2.46 million loss from Q1. Overall sales for the company plummeted 68.1% year-on-year and reached just $62.97 million, while casino sales lost 65.7% to peak at $29.99 million. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) hit the red at $15.04 million.