Casino Dress Code in Asia

Dress codes are the part of casino planning people worry about most and need to worry about least, in most of Asia. The floors of Macau, Singapore and South Korea are full of tourists in jeans and sneakers, and nobody will look twice. But a few venues do publish real rules and do enforce them at the door, and being turned away because of your flip flops is an avoidable way to lose an evening. This page walks through what the region's casinos actually say about clothing, what else can get you refused at the entrance, and how to dress so the question never comes up.

City of Dreams Manila: smart casual in the gaming area

City of Dreams Manila is one of the few Asian casinos that publishes a dress code and means it. The gaming area asks for smart casual, while the resort's restaurants sit at casual to smart casual, so the casino floor is the stricter of the two¹.

In practice, smart casual here means trousers or neat jeans, a collared shirt or blouse, and closed shoes. The resort sits on Asean Avenue at the corner of Roxas Boulevard in Entertainment City, Parañaque, a 6.2 hectare integrated resort with three hotels and 939 rooms, and it is open 24 hours all year round, so there is no time of night when the code relaxes¹. If you are staying in one of the on-site hotels, the walk from lobby to casino passes a security check, and that is where the clothing rules are applied.

The venue is easy to reach: about 3 km from NAIA Terminals 1 and 2 via the elevated NAIA Expressway, about 5 km from Terminal 3, roughly 7 km from Makati and about 10 km from Bonifacio Global City. There is free multi-level parking for guests arriving by private car, and 24-hour valet parking at Nüwa Manila, Nobu Hotel and Hyatt Regency¹.

The Philippines' regulator backs this up with a general standard of its own: everyone inside a licensed gaming venue is required to dress modestly and appropriately, and venue personnel themselves are not allowed to wear indecent or short and revealing outfits⁵. So even at casinos that do not publish a list of banned items, the modest-and-appropriate standard is the baseline across the country.

What gets refused at City of Dreams Manila

The list of refused items at City of Dreams Manila is specific and worth knowing before you go. Men in sleeveless shirts may not enter the casino, and the same applies to guests wearing shorts, slippers, hats, caps, hoodies, sunglasses, masks, veils or anything else that conceals facial features¹.

A few points deserve spelling out:

• Shorts are a no, for men and women alike, and this includes tailored shorts.
• Slippers and flip flops are refused, and sandals are off the list too, so closed shoes are the safe choice.
• Hats and caps come off at the door, even a plain baseball cap.
• Sunglasses, masks and veils are treated as items that hide your face, which casinos dislike for security reasons.
• Hoodies are on the list, so a casual hoodie over a t-shirt will not get you in¹.

Clothing is not the only thing checked. Members of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines are not allowed to enter, stay and/or play⁶. The wider national rule, which applies to every casino in the Philippines, also bars persons under 21, students of any Philippine school, college or university, government officials directly involved in the operation of government or its agencies, and holders of a Gaming Employment License⁷. The same rule lists other excluded groups, including persons in the National Database of Restricted Persons and financiers or loan sharks, so the restrictions target specific listed groups rather than ordinary visitors⁸.

If you are unsure about an outfit, guest services can be reached at (+632) 8-800-8080 or guestservices@cityofdreamsmanila.com before you travel¹.

Corona Resort & Casino Phu Quoc: what is strictly prohibited

Corona Resort & Casino on Phu Quoc is the venue that lets Vietnamese citizens gamble legally, and its dress rules are written into its published terms. Guests are advised to wear formal or smart casual attire. Strictly prohibited are vests, swimwear and pajamas, along with clothing carrying offensive text, images or patterns. Shoes must be worn inside the casino².

That last rule matters more than it sounds on a beach island. Phu Quoc is a resort destination, and plenty of guests arrive at the casino straight from the sand. Bare feet, swimwear and bathrobes will be refused, so bring a change of clothes if you plan to visit the gaming floor after the beach. The resort sits in the Bai Dai area of Truong Beach in the Phu Quoc Special Zone².

Entry also involves paperwork that has nothing to do with clothing. Foreigners must present a valid passport, with visa and entry stamp, for registration at the casino². Vietnamese citizens face their own conditions: they must be 21 or older with full civil act capacity under Vietnamese law⁹, a requirement the government restated in 2025 when it confirmed the two groups allowed into licensed casino businesses¹⁰. So the dress code is only one of three gates at Corona: right clothes, right documents, right age.

Paradise City Casino: casual attire at Korea's foreigner-only venues

South Korea is the opposite of Manila when it comes to clothing. The country has 16 foreigner-only casinos, and the general standard is simply neat attire at all of them, with no formal dress code published³. Paradise City, the large integrated resort next to Incheon airport, is foreigners only, and its casino floor is firmly casual: jeans, t-shirts and sneakers are normal sight there³.

Paradise Casino's own guidance confirms there is no separate dress code¹¹. But "no dress code" does not mean anything goes. At Paradise Casino Walkerhill in Seoul, the operator notes that while there is no separate dress code, entry may be refused to guests wearing shorts, sweatpants or sandals¹². That is the pattern across Korea: the rules are unwritten, and enforcement is at the discretion of the door staff.

The bigger barrier at Korean casinos is not clothing but nationality. Paradise City is for foreign nationals and holders of overseas permanent residency only, and Korean nationals are barred from entry¹³. The same applies across the foreigner-only sector: Paradise Casino Jeju Grand, Jeju KAL Hotel Casino, Jeju Oriental Hotel Casino, Paradise Casino Busan and Majesta Jeju Casino are all foreigners-only venues¹⁴. Korean law puts it plainly: Korean nationals must not be allowed into the foreigner-only gaming area¹⁹. The single exception is Kangwon Land in Jeongseon county, which both Koreans and foreigners may enter²⁰.

What you must bring instead of a suit is your passport. Foreigner-only casinos require a passport for the age and nationality check at the door³. Seven Luck Casino Gangnam COEX asks visitors to carry a passport to confirm age and nationality and runs metal detector screening on entry²¹, and its Seoul Dragon City and Busan Lotte branches state the same requirements, with the Busan branch adding that Koreans are barred and metal detectors are installed for safety²². The minimum age is 19, so anyone under 19 is refused²⁴. Overseas Koreans with permanent residency abroad should note that Paradise Jeju asks for a passport with the departure stamp of the country of migration plus proof of permanent residency or an overseas migration report; airline tickets or local card statements can substitute for missing stamps¹¹.

Paradise Casino Busan is open 24 hours, so the relaxed dress standard applies around the clock²⁵.

Entry rules that sit alongside the dress code

Clothing is only one of the checks at a casino entrance, and it helps to know the others so a good outfit is not wasted. In Singapore, the Casino Control Act states that a person enters and remains on casino premises only by the license of the casino operator, meaning entry is a permission, not a right, and the operator can set conditions at the door²⁶.

Japan's casinos, which will open with MGM Osaka by 2030, take this further than anywhere else in the region. Entrants must present their My Number card and verify identity on each entry and exit of the casino gaming area²⁷. The same system confirms that you are not in a banned category when you enter or leave²⁸. So in Japan, the document check is constant, not a one-time gate.

Cruise casinos have their own version: only persons listed on the passenger manifest of that particular voyage can gamble at the vessel's casino²⁹. Your cabin key and manifest listing are your entry ticket, and clothing is rarely questioned beyond basic decency.

In Macau, the law gives concessionaires a broad discretion: they may bar persons they deem unsuitable from entering, or ask anyone they deem unsuitable to leave, subject only to a non-discrimination principle covering sex, race, nationality, residence, language or religion³⁰. This is the legal backbone for dress code enforcement across the territory: the decision rests with the operator, and the only limit is that it cannot be discriminatory.

Age and ID checks: who can be turned away

Age is the most common reason people are turned away, and the numbers differ by country. Here is the picture across the region:

Singapore spells out the mechanics in its Casino Control Act: a minor, defined as a person below 21, must not enter or remain on any casino premises, and acceptable proof of age is documentary evidence showing the person is at least 21³³. Japan's rules add categories beyond age: persons under 20, members of organized crime groups (boryokudan), persons who have not paid the entry fee, and persons who exceed the entry frequency limit are all banned from entering or staying in casino facilities³². The official guidance repeats the same four bans, so in Japan the ID check at the door screens for all of them²⁸.

Macau's approach to ID is lighter than you might expect. Under Law 10/2012, concessionaire staff supervising casino entry may only require proof of age and may bar entry to those who refuse to show it; they may not demand identity documents³⁰. So in Macau you can be asked how old you are, but not who you are. The territory's original gaming law sets the entry age at 18 for gaming areas, though the tourism authority's current guidance says under-21s are not allowed to enter casinos³⁴.

The practical takeaway: carry a passport or a photo ID that shows your date of birth everywhere in the region. In Korea and Vietnam it will be checked as a matter of course; in Macau and Manila it will only be checked if you look young, but looking young is not something you control.

Photography, masks and other floor rules in Macau

Macau's casinos are open 24 hours, and free shuttle buses run from the border entry points and tourist hotspots to the venues, with many casinos also housing restaurants serving international cuisine⁴. The territory is the most casual of the major destinations on clothing: there is no published dress code, and you will see everything from suits to sneakers on the floor.

But Macau does have floor rules that touch on what you carry and wear. Under the gaming law, people carrying weapons, explosive devices or items, or video or audio recording equipment are banned from casinos³⁵. That recording ban is the one that catches visitors: filming inside a Macau casino is not a dress code issue but a legal one, and it applies to phones used as cameras. We cover the details on our casino photography and phone rules page.

Masks and face coverings sit in a gray zone in Macau. Manila's casinos ban them outright as items that conceal facial features¹, and the same logic applies everywhere: casinos want to see your face on their cameras. If you wear a mask for health reasons, expect to lower it briefly at the door for the security check.

How to dress so you are not refused entry

Putting all of this together, the region sorts into three tiers of strictness, and one outfit covers all of them.

The strict tier: Manila. City of Dreams Manila is the venue with the longest published list of refusals: no shorts, no slippers, no sleeveless tops on men, no hats, caps, hoodies, sunglasses, masks or veils¹. The national standard of modest and appropriate dress applies across Philippine gaming venues generally⁵. If you are heading to Entertainment City, wear trousers, a collared shirt and closed shoes, and you will never have a conversation at the door.

The middle tier: Vietnam and Korea. Corona Phu Quoc asks for formal or smart casual and strictly prohibits vests, swimwear, pajamas and offensive clothing, with shoes required². Korea's casinos have no written code but expect neat attire, and Walkerhill specifically notes that shorts, sweatpants and sandals can be refused³. For both, the safe formula is the same: clean jeans or trousers, a shirt that is not a tank top, and proper shoes.

The relaxed tier: Macau and Singapore. No published dress code, 24-hour opening, and a crowd in casual holiday clothing⁴. The only things that will stop you are the age check and the ban on recording equipment³⁵.

A few habits will carry you through the whole region:

• Bring closed shoes. They are required at Corona Phu Quoc, expected in Korea, and never questioned anywhere.
• Leave hats, caps and sunglasses in your room or the cloakroom. Even where they are not banned, they slow down the security check.
• Skip shorts and flip flops entirely on casino days. They are the single most refused items in the region.
• Carry your passport. In Korea it is checked at every foreigner-only casino; in Vietnam it is needed for registration; everywhere else it settles any age question³.
• Check the venue's own page before you go. The venues that enforce dress rules, like City of Dreams Manila, publish them, and a two-minute read beats a trip back to the hotel to change¹.

If you want to compare what each destination offers beyond the door, see our guide to Asia's casino destinations compared, or start with the overview of casinos and integrated resorts in Asia.