By Kim Yoon-mi

GENERALLY NEGATIVE sentiments about casino gambling heightened in Korea when popular singer-comedian Shin Jeong-hwan was found to have incurred a huge debt to feed his gambling addiction at a casino in the Philippines.

However, such extreme cases are seen not only in gambling but in all kinds of lifestyle choices, including drinking, smoking and even in stock investment, the CEO of the nation's leading foreigner-only casino said.

"Some people get so obsessed with stock investment that they sit in front of the computer monitor to check Dow Jones all night long. Even if they do, some lose big money, but such cases are not criticized as much as gambling," said Kwon Oh-nam, CEO of Grand Korea Leisure.

GKL, a subsidiary of the state-run Korea Tourism Organization, operates three Seven Luck casinos ? at Millennium Seoul Hilton in central Seoul, Convention Annex building in Samseong-dong in southern Seoul and Busan Lotte in Busan.

"As much as stock investment helps facility investment and creates jobs, the casino business for expats and foreign travelers earns foreign currencies more efficiently than manufacturing exporters," he said.

GKL's revenue hit 488 billion won (S$562 million) last year, with net profit reaching 100 billion won (S$115 million).

"Compared to small profit margins of 3-4 per cent for shoes and clothing manufacturing, our profit margin surpasses 20 per cent," he said.

Kwon spent nearly 30 years helping small Korean exporters enter overseas markets at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency until 2002.

The 65-year-old was CEO of the Seoul Business Agency under the Seoul Metropolitan Government from 2004 and started GKL in July 2008.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the company's founding, GKL renewed Seven Luck facilities at the Millennium Seoul Hilton from May to September and opened it on Sept 6.

GKL's marketing approaches to the Millenium outlet and Samseong-dong outlet are different, as Millenium's casino targets general tourists whereas the one south of the river targets VIPs, Kwon said.

"Although the number of visitors to Millenium Hilton Seven Luck is about double that of Gangnam Seven Luck, half of our revenue comes from the Gangnam casino," he said.

GKL was not much affected by the recent global recession in 2008 and 2009.

Rather, the number of visitors from Japan and China has increased for the past two years, as the yen and yuan have been somewhat strong against the won, Kwon said.

He said GKL aims to raise 500 billion won (S$576 million) in revenue in 2010, by tying the casino business with the trades and medical services industry.

"When I was working for the Seoul Metropolitan Government as the head of the Seoul tourism marketing division, I helped the city initiate medical tourism in 2006," Kwon said.

"While American clients enjoy games at our casino, they can receive affordable medical check-ups while staying at the hotel," he said.

GKL recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Intercare Health Promotion Center, located in the COEX InterContinental Hotel near the Gangnam Seven Luck, to accelerate the casino-medicine business.

The Seven Luck in Busan also supports medical check-ups and oriental medical services at the Busan Lotte hotel, he said.