The casinos of Grand Korea Leisure have done well this year-so well that the operator’s Seven Luck Casino Gangnam, one of three that carry the Seven Luck brand, has added a third floor of gaming.
The new 13,550-square-meter third floor has five VIP rooms and a general gaming area with 19 tables, reports the Korea Times.
Gangnam has also made changes to its other two gaming floors, most notably the addition of a dedicated area for poker on the first level. The casino now operates a total of 74 tables and 112 slots.
Grand Korea Leisure is now the leading operator in South Korea in terms of revenue and total visitors. Gangnam has led the company and is expected to provide over half of the anticipated 2009 revenue of KRW400 billion-about $346 million.
Mirae Asset has been selected to manage the IPO of Grand Korea Leisure. The offering will attempt to sell 49 percent of the currently 100 percent-state-owned company. The first 30 percent of shares will be offered in November, with the remaining 19 percent following next year.
The news at Kangwon Land Casino is not so upbeat, despite reports of record profits.
The only casino where Korean citizens are allowed to play is facing increasing pressure in the form of lawsuits, most of which claim the casino ignored its own betting limits and entrance bans at the expense of compulsive gamblers.
Korea Times cites Kangwon Land and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in reporting the casino has been sued 23 times since it opened in October 2000, for alleged combined losses of over KRW53.8 billion. In a number of cases, the court has ruled against the casino.
“The fact that Kangwon Land keeps losing in its court cases, despite its all-star lineup of attorneys, shows that the casino has been relying on murky schemes and irregularities to entice more and more gamblers and squeeze money out of their pockets,” said independent lawmaker Song Hun-suk.
“The problem is that the casino has been bending its own rules for money, allowing gamblers to bet over the legal limit and being flexible about the entrance ban placed at the request of the families of pathological gamblers.”
