Despite sluggish domestic consumption, South Korea's gambling and lottery revenue rose for the ninth straight year in 2014, government data said Wednesday.
Their combined sales reached 19.87 trillion won (approximately US$17.64 billion) last year, up 1 percent from 2013, the data said.
The sales growth is higher than a 0.6 percent increase in the previous year, but lower than a 6.5 percent and 5 percent gain in 2012 and 2011, respectively.
Sales in horse race, cycling and boat race betting fell on-year in 2014, while lottery tickets, casinos and sports betting saw their sales rise, according to the data.
Lottery ticket sales rose 1.4 percent to 3.28 trillion won, a slower rate than 1.5 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2012.
Kangwon Land, the country's only casino open to Korean nationals, saw its revenue soar 10 percent to 1.4 trillion won on-year in 2014, while sales at foreigners-only casinos inched up 0.3 percent to 1.36 trillion won.
Revenue in horse race betting, meanwhile, dropped for the second consecutive year in 2014, with sales decreasing 0.7 percent to 7.64 trillion won in 2014 from the previous year.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
