Gambling Rules by Nationality in Asia

Resident or visitor: which rules apply to you

Most gambling rules in Asia turn on two questions: where are you, and what passport do you hold? The first question is the one people expect. The second is the one that surprises them.

If you are a Western visitor in Seoul or Tokyo, the rules that matter are almost entirely the host country's. Bring your passport to a Korean foreigner-only casino, meet the minimum age, and you may play. Your home country's laws generally do not follow you on a short trip, though a few, like Korea's, do follow their own citizens.

If you are a citizen of an Asian country, the picture is different. South Korea's Criminal Act applies to Korean nationals even when they gamble in a country where gambling is legal; a 2001 Supreme Court ruling confirmed that Korean criminal law applied to a Korean national who gambled at a casino in the Philippines, even though foreigners were allowed in⁸. China prohibits gambling on the mainland for everyone, and Japan treats connecting to an online casino from Japanese soil as a crime regardless of where the site is licensed⁴.

Where you fall between "resident" and "visitor" also matters. In South Korea, residents are not permitted entry into licensed casinos under the Tourism Promotion Act, with one exception in Gangwon Province⁶. A foreigner who naturalizes as a Korean citizen, or loses foreign resident status, is no longer allowed into the foreigner-only casinos and must inform the operator; entering without notice carries civil or criminal liability⁹. If you are unsure which side of that line you fall on, see when an expat counts as a resident and which country's gambling law applies to you.

The short version, country by country:

Visitors are judged by the host country's rules; citizens of Korea, China and Japan carry their home country's rules with them, and permanent residents often sit somewhere in between, as our page on permanent residents explains.

South Korea: online gambling is illegal for citizens, and the ban is strictly enforced

For South Korean citizens, online gambling is illegal in every form. There is no licensing process for online casinos in the country, no domestic framework for residents, and the authorities advise citizens not to join international online casinos or face prosecution and punishment⁶. Those caught gambling online can face penalties and charges, and people have been heavily punished⁶.

The ban covers the products you would expect:

• Online casino play: prohibited⁷
• Online poker: prohibited⁷
• Prediction markets and event wagering: treated as illegal gambling when money rides on an outcome¹³
• Cryptocurrency gambling: not a recognized category within the state-authorized framework¹²

Korean gaming law does not judge a game by its type or genre but by its speculative nature, so a game that looks like entertainment can still be treated as gambling if money rides on an outcome⁶. Wagers on an overseas platform over the outcome of Seoul's mayoral election reached $43.68 million in May 2026, and the legal status of such platforms remains a gray zone¹³.

The practical risk for a Korean citizen is simple: playing online, even on a site licensed abroad, can lead to prosecution at home. Enforcement against Korean players using offshore gambling sites is ongoing¹².

Can Koreans gamble abroad? Yes, but the law follows them home

This is the question Korean travelers ask most, and the answer is uncomfortable. Korean law prohibits gambling by Korean nationals, and that prohibition applies to Koreans abroad¹⁰. In plain terms, a Korean national who gambles in a country where gambling is perfectly legal can still be punished under domestic law¹⁰.

In practice, this means a Korean citizen who plays at a legal foreign casino is taking a legal risk at home, not at the casino.

For Korean citizens holding a foreign passport or an overseas permanent residence passport under the Overseas Emigration Act, the position is different in one respect: at Kangwon Land they are exempt from the entry tax, and at foreigner-only casinos, overseas emigrants under the Overseas Emigration Act are the one category of Korean nationals who may be admitted¹⁶. Dual nationals should read our page on dual nationals, overseas nationals and foreign spouses.

Kangwon Land: the one casino Koreans may enter

South Korea has 17 casinos in total, and Kangwon Land, opened on October 28, 2000, is the only one where Korean nationals and foreigners may enter together¹⁸. It sits in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, and was the first casino in Korea where Koreans were allowed entry²¹.

To gamble there, everyone pays an entry tax of KRW 9,000, a figure in force since January 1, 2016¹⁵. The levy covers a 24-hour period²³.

The breakdown comes from Kangwon Land's own guidance¹⁷.

Two exemptions matter. Customers holding a foreign passport, or a Korean citizen's overseas permanent residence passport under the Overseas Emigration Act, are exempt from the entry tax as prescribed by presidential decree¹⁷. The same rule applies at the operator's sister property, High1: customers with expatriate passports for foreigners and citizens of South Korea are granted admission pursuant to the Emigration Act²⁴. In both cases you must show the passport itself; a driver's license is not accepted¹⁷.

The minimum age is 19, and persons under 19 are prohibited from entry at all Korean casinos¹. For more on the venue and what to expect, see casinos in South Korea.

Foreigner-only casinos in South Korea

The other 16 casinos in South Korea are designated exclusively for foreign visitors and require valid foreign identification, meaning your passport, at the door¹. Paradise Casino, for example, markets itself as Korea's largest foreigners-only casino²⁶, and Paradise City in Incheon is a foreign-national and overseas permanent resident-only casino where Korean nationals are barred from entry²⁷.

The rule is written into the regulations: casino operators may not admit Korean nationals, except overseas emigrants under the Overseas Emigration Act, and the foreigner-only gaming area must not admit Korean nationals at all¹⁶. Travel agency staff and visitors may enter with a visitor badge but must not be allowed to play¹⁶. The age limit is 19 or older¹.

For a foreign visitor, this makes South Korea one of the easier countries in Asia to gamble in: bring a passport, be 19 or older, and any of the 16 foreigner-only casinos will admit you. The 16 venues compete for a limited pool of inbound players, from high-end baccarat rooms to small walk-in floors²³. For the full picture, see gambling in South Korea.

What else is legal in Korea, and tax on winnings

Beyond Kangwon Land, South Korea's legal gambling for citizens is limited to state-authorized forms²⁹:

• Horse racing
• Cycling racing (keirin)
• Powerboat racing
• The lottery
• Sports promotion voting tickets
• Bullfighting

These are the categories the state runs or licenses, and everything outside them is prohibited under Korean criminal law¹².

Winnings are taxed at source⁷:

Small wins escape tax: betting winnings are not taxed where the stake shown on the ticket is KRW 100,000 or less and either the winnings per bet are KRW 100,000 or less, or the winnings are no more than 100 times the unit stake and no more than KRW 2 million; lottery prizes of KRW 2 million or less per prize are also not taxed⁷.

Gambling by minors is illegal in all forms under the Youth Protection Act and the gaming industry laws³¹. The currency is the South Korean won (KRW)¹².

China: gambling is illegal on the mainland

China prohibits gambling on the mainland for everyone, citizens and foreigners alike. For players who gamble online, hefty fines and imprisonment are among the risks³. Foreigners residing in China face an additional layer: those caught can be blacklisted and banned from entry for 10 years³.

The mainland ban pushes play to the special administrative regions. Macau is the obvious destination for mainland visitors, and Hong Kong has its own separate rules; see can I gamble in Macau and can I gamble in Hong Kong for those. The mainland also issued a ban on VPNs in 2017, which matters because it closes the most common technical route to offshore sites³.

Because the market is not regulated, there are no official channels of support for people experiencing gambling-related harm in China³. For the full country picture, see can I gamble in China.

Japan: online casinos are illegal for players, and no legal casinos exist yet

Japan has no licensed and regulated online casinos, and none of the offshore sites serving Japanese players are specifically legal for the operator to deliver or for the players to bet at⁵. The National Police Agency's research goes further: using a smartphone in Japan to access and participate in an overseas-licensed online casino is illegal and punishable as gambling under the Japanese Penal Code, because it is a domestic crime harming Japanese social legal interests; a foreign license does not justify it, and a mistaken belief that it was legal does not negate intent³². A consumer guidance document repeats the point that gambling using online casinos from within Japan is illegal³³, and one support organization adds that even the free versions of online casino games must not be used³⁴. Online pachinko is likewise illegal³⁵.

Some sites tell Japanese players that using overseas-licensed online casinos is not directly prohibited, only a gray zone not clearly permitted by law³⁶. Set against the official guidance above, that is a thin reed to lean on: the government's published position is that playing from Japan is a crime.

As for land-based casinos, there are none. Proposals for introducing casinos have been hotly debated in Japan since 2001, led by then-Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, but no casinos have been established³⁷. That changes in the next few years: the first Integrated Resort casino in Japan is expected to open in Osaka by 2030⁵. Until then, a visitor to Japan looking for a casino floor will not find a legal one; see can I gamble in Japan.

Japan's legal exceptions: racing, lottery and pachinko

What Japan does offer legally is a set of public gambling and quasi-gambling products with long histories.

Public sports betting. Horse racing, keirin (cycle racing), boat racing and auto racing are state-run betting sports. Night races are conducted at four racecourses in Japan³⁸, and local government racing operates alongside the JRA's flagship meetings³⁹.

Pachinko and pachislo. Pachinko parlors are everywhere in Japanese cities, and playing is technically a game of skill whose prize exchange happens off-site, which is how the industry has survived. Online pachinko, by contrast, is illegal³⁵.

Lottery. The takarakuji lottery is sold at ticket stands across the country and is a legal, state-run product.

The age rules differ by product⁶:

Those under 20 are barred from buying betting tickets, though they may enter a racecourse with a parent or guardian⁴⁰. The split is worth remembering: a 19-year-old expat in Tokyo can spend an evening at a pachinko parlor but cannot legally buy a horse racing ticket.

What the law does not cover: gray areas and enforcement

The gaps between the written law and daily life are real, and worth understanding without exaggerating them.

Prediction markets. In South Korea, prediction market apps have boomed in a legal gray zone; wagers on Seoul's mayoral election reached $43.68 million on an overseas platform in May 2026, and Korean law is still grappling with whether wagering money online on the outcome of an event is gambling (which the authorities say it is) or something else¹³. In Japan, homegrown platforms have emerged that let users wager on real-world events for points convertible into gift cards, skirting the anti-gambling rules⁴¹.

VPNs and offshore sites. China banned VPNs in 2017, but that has not stopped people from reaching offshore gambling sites³. In South Korea, enforcement against Korean players using offshore gambling sites is ongoing, and using a VPN does not change your legal position: a Korean citizen playing on an offshore site is still breaking Korean law¹². The same goes for Japan, where a person connecting to an overseas casino is still, in the government's view, committing a domestic crime⁴.

Cryptocurrency. Crypto gambling is not a recognized category within South Korea's state-authorized framework, so its legal status for residents is unconfirmed rather than clearly permitted¹².

Who gets caught. In practice, enforcement focuses on operators, large-scale players and cases that surface in other investigations. But the Korean and Japanese positions are unusual in Asia: the player, not just the operator, is personally liable, and both countries have shown they will pursue individuals. If you are arrested abroad over gambling, our page on what your embassy can and cannot do covers the practical side.

The pattern across these three passports is consistent. China bans the activity outright. Japan bans online play and has no casinos yet, leaving racing, lottery and pachinko as the legal outlets. Korea bans online play for its citizens, follows them abroad, and confines its own nationals to Kangwon Land and the state betting products, while welcoming foreign visitors at 16 casinos built just for them. Western visitors, by contrast, generally face only the host country's rules, and in Korea and Japan those rules are more permissive for a passport holder from abroad than for the person standing next to them holding a local one.