The company develops abandoned mines and builds gaming and entertainment facilities. Kangwon Land primarily operates game tables and slot machines for both the domestic and international markets.
Kangwon province is a well-known coal mining area that relied on coal for business, and its economy was devastated when gas and oil began to phase out coal and gas in the 90s.
The Kangwon community petitioned the government for a domestic casino and received authorization in December 1995. It took five years before Kangwon Land opened its doors to the public. It had one hotel with 199 rooms and a casino that had 30 table games and 480 slot machines.
Kangwon Land has come a long way since then: it now operates two hotels with 674 rooms, two condominiums with 403 rooms, an 18-hole golf course, a ski resort with 18 slopes, and a casino with 132 table games and 960 slot machines on 2,800 acres of land.
Its efforts to expand continued into the 2010s, as it opened High1 Water Park in Gansam, South Korea in 2015. This extension to the Kangwonland brand was intended to make the resort more family-friendly and attract more international tourists.
The company was hit particularly hard by the pandemic, as it is primarily a land-based business and its main casino requires a good deal of travel to get to. Kangwon Land revenue fell by 63.5% in H1 of 2022, as pandemic rules allowed for only VIP sections of the Land Casino to remain open.
Revenue at the Kangwon Land Water Park plummeted by 99.5% in the first half of 2020. However, Kangwon Land has shown signs of emerging from the pandemic; they posted a 272% GGR increase for Q3 of 2021.
While its numbers are still well below pre-Covid-19 levels, South Korea seems performing strongly all round on the economic front post pandemic. Seoul was praised for its handling of the outbreak and the country saw strong economic recovery in 2021 which has led to lifting of travel restrictions. This should be hopeful news for Kangwon Land.
Company size: 3,600+
Key personnel:
Senior Manager: Heeseok Kim
General Manager: Andy Jeon
Senior Manager: Cooper Han
Senior Managing Director: So Byung-Ki
