The 2013 sales revenue of the gambling industry was 18,284.7 billion won, the almost same level as the previous year’s. (image: conorwithonen/flickr)
SEOUL, June 12 (Korea Bizwire) – A study said Korea’s legally sanctioned gambling industry (not including foreigners-only casinos and bullfighting) has stopped growing since 2006. According to a white paper published on June 9 by the Korea Leisure Industry Institute, the 2013 sales revenue of the gambling industry was 18,284.7 billion won, the almost same level as the previous year’s.
By individual segment, Sports Toto saw the fastest growth of 75.5 percent from 2009, followed by Lotto (30.9%) and Gangwon Land Casino (10.7%). In contrast, track cycling (3.3%) and boat race betting (-3.6%) have shown lackluster performances from the previous year. As for the number of visitors to horse racing, bicycle racing, boat racing, and Gangwon Land Casino fell 5.5 percent to 26.57 million, continuing a run of decreasing visitor numbers since 2010.
The sales revenue for track cycling dropped 7.4 percent in 2013 to 2,297.7 billion won, with the number of guests shrinking 16.3 percent to 5,339,000. The share of track cycling in the whole gambling business also fell 1.0 percentage point to 12.6 percent from 2012. As for boat racing, its sales were 692.3 billion won, down 4.3 percent from 2012, with the number of visitors falling 13.2 percent to 2,249,000.
The sales of lottos rose 1.5 percent to 3,234.0 billion won, of which the national lottos increased 5.3 percent to 2,989.6 billion won. The ratio of lotto revenue in the total gambling industry was 17.7 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from a year ago.
The turnover of Gangwon Land, the only casino Korean nationals are allowed to enter, went up 5.8 percent to 1,279.0 billion won. But this was largely due to an addition of 400 slot machines. Its admission numbers rose 1.4 percent to 3.06 million.
Written by Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
Business (Follow us @Biznews_Korea)
