South Korea’s Grand Korea Leisure Co., Ltd. (GKL), which runs the Seven Luck-branded foreign-only casino, told GGRAcia that it plans to keep two casino facilities in the capital Seoul despite media reports that one of the current venues will be sold and demolished for redevelopment. A GKL official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been working on contingency plans since last year, considering the possibility of the Millennium Hilton Seoul Hotel being sold. The official added that GKL’s casino facility lease period is until ‘December 31, 2022’. GKL operates the Gangbuk Millennium and Seoul Casino in the hotel. Another Seoul casino of the group is located at COEX in Gangnam. 경마사이트프로
The person told GGRAcia that there is no possibility of integrating Gangbuk and Gangnam operations only at COEX venues, and GKL plans to continue installing two casinos in the capital. In response to a telephone inquiry Wednesday, the Millennium Hilton Seoul Reservation Officer told GGRAcia that hotel operations will continue until “the end of next year” under the terms of the management contract for the hotel business. As of Wednesday, the hotel’s room booking website is still accepting reservations for 2022.
The building, which houses the Millennium Hilton Seoul and the GKL Gangbuk Millennium Casino, will be sold by its owner, Singapore-listed City Development, the Korea Economic Daily said Monday, citing investment bank sources. The outlet said the potential buyer is the Seoul-based IGIS asset management company, which will redevelop the site into office and hotel spaces at a cost of about 1 trillion won.
South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s industry-wide consolidated data showed GKL’s Gangbuk casinos saw a 64.9 percent decline in overall 2020 sales at the same time as disruption related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Such sales increased from KRW 224.06 billion in 2019 to KRW 77.79 billion in 2020. The number of visitors to the Millennium Casino in Gangbuk decreased 74.5% to 230,064 in 2020, compared to 901,723 in 2019. According to the ministry’s data, the number of casino visitors across the market fell 71.3% year-on-year in 2020. GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The group operates three game venues in Korea: Gangbuk Millennium in Seoul, COEX in Gangnam, and Lotte Casino in Busan.