S.Korea govt probes claims GKL’s 2025 casino-visit figures were inflated: report

South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is investigating claims that foreigner-only casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd (GKL) may have inflated the number of non-member customers it declared as visiting its three casinos last year, reported the Yonhap News Agency. The news outlet said its report was based on “internal allegations” at the company and internal data obtained by the agency. Circa two-thirds – i.e., 721,817 – of the declared nearly 1.12 million visits to Grand Korea Leisure’s three casinos last year were recorded via membership cards, stated the agency. But the remaining balance of visits – i.e., 395,348 visits, or 35.4 percent – involved non-members entering with only their passports, with such visits recorded separately by casino staff. According to Yonhap, a complaint regarding the way Seven Luck casino visitor numbers were counted was filed with South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection. The body conducted an onsite investigation in June before referring the matter to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The ministry has since requested relevant information from Grand Korea Leisure and is checking the facts of the matter, per the report. On Monday, Yonhap reported Grand Korea Leisure as saying that claims of “fictitious counting” and “inflating visitor numbers” were “not confirmed facts”. Grand Korea Leisure runs three foreigner-only casinos under the Seven Luck brand: at Gangnam COEX (pictured) in Seoul; at Seoul Dragon City, also in the capital; and at Busan Lotte in the southern port city of Busan. In August, Grand Korea Leisure flagged it would pay an interim dividend, as it reported an increase in second-quarter net income and renewed its Gangnam casino lease.