Grand Korea Leisure Inc. (GKL), a South Korean game operator, said Friday that its third-quarter 2018 net profit fell 21.0 percent year-on-year to 26.37 billion won (US$23.3 million). The company did not explain why its quarterly earnings declined.

Sales in the three months to Sept. 30 fell 5.9% year-on-year to just over 130.43 billion won, it said in a filing with the Korea Exchange.

Operating profit for the reporting period was about 30.89 billion won, down 24.1% from 34.69 billion won a year earlier, the company said.

GKL is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization, an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The company operates three foreigner-only casinos in Korea under the Seven Luck brand, two in the capital city of Seoul and one in the southern port city of Busan.

A number of investment analysts previously noted that South Korea’s foreign-only casino market has been negatively affected since 2017 after Chinese tourism fell after a conflict between China and South Korea over the U.S. missile system.

In the first nine months of 2018, GKL posted nearly 368.5 billion won in revenue, down 1.4% from a year earlier. Net income for the period rose 6.9% year-on-year to 70.9 billion won, the report said on Friday.

Also Friday, GKL reported casino sales for October. GKL said casino sales fell 10.7% year-on-year to nearly 36.1 billion won last month.

BY: 파워볼게임