S.Korea's Jeju Dream Tower Casino exceeds $7.6 mn in net monthly sales

Jeju Dream Tower Casino, located on South Korea's top tourist island of Jeju and run by Lotte Tour Development Co., broke the 10 billion won ($7.6 million) mark last month in net sales for the first time thanks to the resumption of economic activities.

The tourism and leisure company said it can solidify its surplus this year as its drop, or the money casino players convert into chips, and number of users keep breaking the casino's records day after day.

The company on Wednesday said its Dream Tower Casino, which admits foreign nationals only, at Jeju Dream Tower Integrated Resort on the island posted net sales last month of 11.4 billion won. Monthly operating profit also returned to the black in April 22 months after the casino's launch in June 2021, thus the company enjoyed its second consecutive month of surplus.

The reopening of direct flights between Jeju and major cities abroad had the biggest impact on the casino's business recovery, with average monthly net sales more than doubling from 3.6 billion won last year to 7.5 billion won this year with the resumption of direct flights between major Asian countries and Jeju International Airport.

The number of Chinese visitors to the island from January to April this year zoomed an astounding 388.7% to 250,187, far more than the year-on-year figure of 51,197. Casino users also numbered 10,000 for the first time in November last year, when direct flights to Osaka, Japan, Taipei, Taiwan, and Singapore were resumed.

The number of casino users last month also broke the 20,000 mark for the first time with 21,866, over four times the monthly average of 5,300 from January to May last year. Also last month, the table drop posted 100 billion won for the first time with 113.7 billion won, a 350% jump from 28.4 billion won year on year.

The number of overseas direct routes and that of passengers in Jeju are continuously rising, thus performance in the year's second half is expected to improve. Airline analysts say the number of weekly direct flights between cities in mainland China and Jeju this month will nearly triple from 22 to 65, including those to and from Ningbo with nine, Hangzhou four, Shenyang two and Shanghai seven.

Combining direct flights in operation linking the island with Osaka, Taipei and Singapore, the number of such flights between Jeju and major Asian cities rises to 87 per week.

"With the expansion of direct overseas flights, sales at not only Dream Tower Casino but also the Grand Hyatt Jeju located within the integrated resort will surge," a Lotte Tour Development source said.

Write to Mi-Kyoung Lee at capital@hankyung.com