Shinhan Securities said investors in Korea's gaming industry seem to maintain a narrow view that foreign-only casinos rely mostly on Chinese tourists, and do not value the fact that "inbound traffic is recovering fast" from other countries. The brokerage suggested that "emotions to improve casinos will need to prove wrong with solid earnings reports to investors."
"Investor sentiment continued to impact China's economic stimulus delays and a relatively slow recovery of Chinese inbound traffic, as well as political issues that have arisen since the beginning of the year, despite a steep table drop in visitors from countries other than China," expert acquaintance Hae wrote in a note released by Business Korea on Sunday
Shinhan Securities' note on the South Korean casino industry noted that the number of visitors to South Korea in Japan and China recovered to 64% and 26% of pre-pandemic levels in May this year.
"China inbound traffic is starting to improve, but the pace of recovery is falling short of market expectations," it added
Japanese and Chinese tourists have previously been mentioned in the casino industry as important to gambling income.
Last week, Yonhap reported that Japan is the largest source of inbound foreign visitors to South Korea so far in 2023, based on the latest data through May 31.
There are 17 casinos in Korea, but only Kangwon Land in the remote highlands can accommodate local players.
Paradise Co., Ltd., the operator of some foreign-only casinos, posted the second-highest sales ever of 70.1 billion won thanks to a significant improvement in its holding rate, the paper analyst wrote.
Referring to Grand Korea Leisure Inc., a foreigner-only casino operator controlled by the Korea Tourism Organization, the commentary added, "On the other hand, Grand Korea Leisure's holding ratio reversed its solid rise over the past three months, resulting in a sharp drop in May sales to 25.3 billion won from the previous month."
The agency defined casino "holds" as the operator's "win" over the customer's "drops," or the amount of money deposited on the table to place bets.
BY: 바카라사이트