Korea's casino market has exploded since last year when Grand Korea Corp (www.7luck.com) turned the casino market into a competitive system with its venture into the market.
By posting a turnover of 131 billion won (US$145 million) during the first half of this year, GKL Seven Luck jumped over its initial 84.1 billion won (US$91.7 million) turnover goal lightly. Attendance also surpassed 380,000 persons during the first half of the year.
By following up this surplus power, GKL Seven Luck has set a new company turnover goal of 250 billion won (US$274 million) in 2007 and also expects 750,000 persons to visit this year.
GKL Seven Luck was able to make such a brilliant outcome thanks to internationally competitive casino facilities and a unique marketing strategy, President & CEO Park Jung-sam said. Touching upon a fact that casinos must be seen from an industrial standpoint, not as gambling, Park pointed out: "There is still much negative awareness that many people regard casino only as a gambling."
GKL Seven Luck, which launched as an affiliate of the Korea Tourism Organization (KNTO) last year, plans to strive for converting such negative awareness in the general public with an image of a transparent and fair-minded public enterprise.
Further, by constructing an advanced casino operation system, GKL Seven Luck plans to secure fair and transparent games procedures by constructing the most cutting- edge surveillance system to prevent cheating. To carry out its role as a public-oriented industry, Park has committed himself to invest 50% of casino gains in tourism infrastructure construction project. He expected that through such transparent and fair-minded operations, the negative image of casinos could be purified. Park spoke: "In the light of the fact that Asian countries such as Macao and Singapore nurture casinos as one of their representative tourism industries under the initiative of the government, our reality is frustrating."
Despite of the fact that casinos are the most optimal product to accelerate the domestic tourism industry, social awareness about casinos in Korea is not too good, he added. With regard to the present condition of foreign casinos, the president introduced: "Foreign casinos are changing into large-sized, resortmodel casinos. In that respect, we also need a resort-model casino in which foreign tourists can do everything including tour and shopping in one space rather than a space with just casino in it."
As part of such strategies corresponding to casino's internationally changing environment, GKL Seven Luck is doing its best to prepare an internal environment which meets its customer's needs including the newest IT integration system construction.
What's more, GKL Seven Luck is providing foreigners with an entertainment- model casino in the hopes of offering leisure which meets the international level. Starting from the Gangnam district in Seoul, Seven Luck opened on January 2006. The same year, GKL Seven Luck opened the Millennium Seoul Hilton Seven Luck Casino in May and Busan Lotte Seven Luck Casino in June.
As a representative Asian leisure enterprise which provides customers with pleasure, contributes to society, and its staff with hopes and dreams, Park has committed himself to do his best to boost casino's international competitiveness in Korea by correcting monopoly abuse by the private sector during the last 40 years.
