Imports in the three months to June 30 came to nearly 11.33 billion won (US$8.3 million), up sharply from 10.22 billion won in the first quarter.

Casino Group, listed on the Korea Exchange, said in another filing on Monday that it will pay an interim cash dividend of 60.00 won per share on Sept. 10, totaling 3.71 billion won.

In a separate presentation, the company said it was paying an interim dividend "for the first time in four years" since fiscal 2019, the period just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, shareholder net profit in the first half of this year actually fell 28.7% year-on-year to 21.53 billion won

The company did not comment on the reason for its overall second quarter earnings. Grand Korea Leisure 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 (pictured).

This group is a subsidiary of the Korea Tourism Organization and is under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Grand Korea Leisure's second-quarter revenue rose 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to less than 98.83 billion won, but fell 1.4 percent year-on-year.

It said its operating profit fell 4.6 percent on-quarter to 13.21 billion won in the second quarter, but increased 20.0 percent on-year.

Business margin for the second quarter was 13.4%, compared with 11.0% a year earlier.

Grand Korea Leisure's total casino decline in the first six months of the year was nearly 1.86 trillion won, up 16.8% year-on-year, according to the presentation deck.

Net casino sales in the first half of the year were KRW 192.6 billion, down 7.4% year-on-year.

In the first six months of the year, the number of visitors to the three sites stood at 447,941, up 38.3% year-on-year.

As of June 30, it operates 175 tables, 354 machine games, and 145 electronic table game terminals at the group level. 홀짝게임

Last June, Grand Korea Leisure announced its plan to reorganize its business amid regional competition.