The casino sector in Greece continues to struggle, according to first half 2018 results, with both the number of visitors, revenues and profits also down for the sector in general. Aggravating the local gaming industry's woes are accumulated damages from previous years, on top of arrears, such as months of back pay to employees and failure to meet pay tax and social security contributions. Specifically for H1 2018, the number of visitors to the nine casinos in Greece reached 1.333 million, down slightly from 1.364 million in the corresponding period of 2017, a decrease of 2.26 percent. The "total casino drop", the revenue benchmark used in the gaming industry, reached 740.5 million euros, falling from 754.2 million euros during the first half of 2017, a decrease of 1.81 percent. In terms of the "total casino win" figure, the total reached 116.1 million euros, down from 120 million euros in H1 2017 or 3.23 percent. For June 2018, the last month for which numbers are available, the number of people that passed through the nine casinos' doors reached 219,565, down from 211,487 in 2017, a reduction of 3.82 percent. The total casino drop was 120.7 million, down from 122.3 million in June 2017 (-1.31 percent). Conversely, the total casino win total was up in June 2018, rising to19.3 million euros, up from 18.9 million in June last year (1.79 percent). In terms of visitors, Mont Parnes' Regency recorded a marginal rise of 0.16 percent (H1 to H1); Thessaloniki's Hyatt Regency was up by 8.13 percent and Corfu was up by 1.9 percent. At the opposite side of the spectrum, Halkidiki prefecture's Porto Carras casino saw its first-half 2018 figure for visitors decrease by 43.3 percent; 18.29 percent down for the casino in the small resort town of Rio, outside Patras; and 12.21 percent for the troubled and debt-laden casino in the resort city of Loutraki, west of Athens. Only Mont Parnes (on a mountaintop overlooking the greater Athens area) and the Hyatt Regency in Thessaloniki announced improved results in H1 2018 for the total casino drop and total casino win categories. Read more at naftemporiki.gr RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Antoine Taveneaux License: CC-BY-SA