The fear of the spread of coronavirus is making people bound to stay indoors. From cancellations of gatherings, meetings, parties, sporting events, concerts there have been red alerts everywhere. Public places like malls, pubs, and casinos, where there is a significant count of people are also shut.
After the coronavirus outbreak, the gaming industry has been at a standstill. Based on the recent reports, there are speculations that the sports gambling industry may lose $140 million alone by the end of this week on lost NCAA basketball tournament bets.
Most land casinos are closing down and many are transforming into online casinos. Casinos that hold a major part of the economy is already falling down.
Casinos Left Out By the Government From Coronavirus Relief Loans
Amidst the ongoing pandemic and the crashing economy, casinos have been left out from the government’s coronavirus relief loans despite the fact that the casinos are 10% contributors to sales every year.
To provide support to the show business and tourism that are affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism allocated 100 million won ($79 million) as special loans from its Tourism Promotion Fund.
According to the sources, the casino industry has been avidly donating funds but here is significantly suffering because of virus spread. The relief loan programs are not for them.
The casino industry is devastated to realize that after decades of making the contribution they have been excluded from the special loans at the time of crisis. They are neglected by the government and are not provided with any support. How is the casino supposed to pay the bills when there are no customers. This year casinos are struggling to pay the bills due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to the Cultural Ministry, the special loans are for small business and travel agencies and the accommodation businesses that cannot provide collateral for loans.
Yet another casino operator, Paradise Group, said that it will close down its four casino sites in Seoul Incheon, Jeju, and Busan for the coming two weeks. State-run casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Co. (GKL) stated to decide to close the casinos from Tuesday to 6th April.
