Expats vs Tourists: How Residency Status Changes Casino Access in Asia

Resident or visitor: which rules apply to you

Across Asia, casinos sort people into two groups: those the government wants to protect from gambling, and everyone else. The dividing line is almost always citizenship or permanent residency, not where you live or how long you have lived there.

That means a British engineer who has worked in Singapore for six years on an employment pass is treated as a foreigner at the casino door. A Singaporean who has lived in London for a decade is treated as a local the moment they come home for a visit. Your address does not matter. Your passport and your permanent resident status do.

Japan has written this distinction into its casino plan explicitly. The rules are designed to prevent harmful effects from casino use by people other than foreign tourists, and the measures apply to Japanese nationals and foreign residents in Japan¹⁰. In other words, if you hold a Japanese passport or live in Japan as a foreign resident, you will be in the restricted group when the first resort opens. A visitor on a tourist visa will not be.

This is worth understanding before you plan a casino trip, because the practical difference can be large. In Singapore it is S$150 a day. In Korea it is the difference between 16 casinos and one. In Vietnam it is the difference between walking in and being turned away.

If you are planning a trip that involves crossing a border specifically to gamble, the rules on visas and re-entry are covered separately in Crossing a Land Border to a Casino and Visas for a Casino Trip.

Singapore's entry levy: S$150 a day for citizens and PRs

Singapore is the clearest example in Asia of a two-tier casino door. Any Singapore citizen or permanent resident who wants to enter a casino must pay an entry levy¹. The casino operator is not allowed to let a citizen or permanent resident in, or let them stay, unless the levy has been paid².

The current rates are:

The 24-hour rate was raised from S$100 to S$150, and the annual membership from S$2,000 to S$3,000¹². The minister can vary these levies by order in the Gazette, so the figures can change again¹².

In practice, you pay at the casino before you go in. The levy covers a consecutive 24-hour period, so if you leave and come back the same day you do not pay twice, but a new day means a new S$150. The annual membership option only makes sense if you plan to visit often enough that S$3,000 works out cheaper than repeated daily levies.

The minimum age for entry into the Singapore casinos is 21¹³.

What the levy does not cover

The levy is not refundable. There is no refund if you bought a levy but were unable to use it, if you are subject to an exclusion order or a visit limit, or if someone requests a refund on behalf of a deceased person who bought a levy¹. Once paid, treat it as spent.

There is also a separate self-exclusion scheme that applies to Singapore citizens, permanent residents and foreigners who are current members or account holders of participating non-casino operators¹⁴. If you have signed up for self-exclusion through Singapore Pools or another participating operator, that follows you into the casino regardless of your nationality.

Foreign passport holders enter Singapore casinos free

If you hold a foreign passport and you are not a Singapore permanent resident, you walk in without paying the levy. There is no daily charge, no membership requirement and no registration fee. You show your passport, you meet the age requirement of 21, and you go in¹³.

This is the single biggest residency-based difference in Asian casino access, and it catches people out in both directions. A foreigner who has lived in Singapore for years may assume the levy applies to them and avoid the casino unnecessarily. A Singaporean who has lived abroad may assume they are exempt and get a surprise at the door.

The practical test is simple. If you hold a Singapore passport, or a Singapore permanent resident card, you pay. If you hold any other passport and no PR status, you do not.

For more on what else applies at the Singapore properties, including non-gaming facilities and visitor rules, see Resorts World Sentosa: Casino Entry and Visitor Rules.

South Korea: 16 of 17 casinos admit foreigners only

South Korea runs the opposite system to Singapore. Instead of charging locals, it simply keeps them out of almost every casino. Of the country's 17 licensed casinos, 16 are foreigners-only³.

At a foreigners-only casino, you must bring your passport, and Korean nationals are not admitted³. Paradise City is one example: it is a foreigners-only facility¹⁵. Paradise Casino Jeju Grand is described the same way¹⁵.

For a foreign resident in Korea, this is good news. Your passport is your entry ticket, and the fact that you live in Seoul or Busan on a work visa does not change anything. You are a foreigner at the door, so you are admitted. The same applies to a tourist on a short visit.

For a Korean citizen, it is the reverse. Sixteen of the country's casinos are closed to you, no matter how far you travel inside the country.

Kangwon Land: the one casino Koreans can enter

Kangwon Land is the exception. It is the first casino in Korea where Koreans are allowed entry, and it is open to both Korean citizens and foreign visitors⁴. It is described as the first casino-style hotel in the country open to both Korean nationals and overseas visitors⁵.

If you are a Korean citizen and you want to play at a casino in your own country, this is the one place you can go. If you are a foreigner, you can go there too, but you also have the other 16 options.

The practical details for a first visit are straightforward. Bring your passport if you are a foreigner. Expect the same age and identification checks as anywhere else. If you are planning a trip around a Korean casino, the country page Can I Gamble in South Korea? covers the wider picture.

Vietnam: passport checks, age limits and family exclusion rules

Vietnam draws its line differently again. Foreigners have long been able to enter the country's casinos. Vietnamese citizens were historically barred, but that has changed at a small number of projects.

Eligible Vietnamese citizens are now permitted to enter casinos at several casino business projects, specifically Phú Quốc, Hồ Tràm and Vân Đồn⁶. The government resolution allowing this took effect on November 26, 2025⁶.

The conditions for a Vietnamese citizen are stricter than for a foreigner:

• You must be 21 or older and have full civil act capacity⁷
• You must have sufficient financial capacity¹⁷
• You must buy a ticket to play¹⁷
• You must not be subject to a self-requested or family-requested exclusion⁷
• You may only use Vietnamese dong to exchange for convention currency, and exchange back any unspent amount or winnings¹⁷

The family exclusion rule is the one that surprises people. A relative with full civil act capacity, meaning a father, adoptive father, mother, adoptive mother, wife, husband or biological child, can request that the casino bar you from playing. You can also make that request yourself⁷. If such a request is in place, the casino will not let you play.

Foreigners entering a Vietnamese casino show a passport or an equivalent document issued by their country. The age rule that applies specifically to Vietnamese nationals is 21 with full civil act capacity⁷. Foreign visitors generally follow the venue's own age policy, so check with the casino before you travel.

For the wider picture on where you can play and what else applies, see Can I Gamble in Vietnam?.

Japan's planned IR levy: JPY 6,000 in total, with an exemption for foreign tourists only

Japan does not have a casino open yet. The first integrated resort, MGM Osaka, is scheduled to open by 2030, and it will contain the country's first legal casino. Until then, there is nothing to enter.

When it does open, the entry rules will follow the same resident-versus-visitor logic as Singapore and Korea. Japanese patrons will pay an admission fee of JPY 3,000 each to the national government and the local government, so JPY 6,000 in total, valid for 24 hours⁸. The same fee and the same entry limits will apply to Japanese nationals and foreign residents in Japan⁹.

Japanese nationals will also face a cap on how often they can enter: a maximum of three times in any consecutive seven days, or a maximum of 10 times in any consecutive 28 days⁸.

The exemption is for foreign tourists. The whole design of the rules is to prevent harmful effects from casino use by people other than foreign tourists, which is why the scope of who may enter is set with that group in mind¹⁰. If you are visiting Japan on a tourist entry, you will be in the unrestricted group. If you live in Japan, even on a foreign passport, you will be in the restricted group alongside Japanese nationals.

This is the key point for expats in Japan: holding a foreign passport will not exempt you if you are resident in the country. The rules are written around residency, not nationality, for the entry fee and the entry cap.

Minimum ages: 21 for locals in Vietnam, venue policy for foreigners

Age rules in Asia vary by country and sometimes by nationality within the same country.

The pattern to watch is that where a country restricts its own citizens, the age limit for those citizens is often set higher or with extra conditions attached. Vietnam is the clearest case: a Vietnamese national needs to be 21, have full civil act capacity, prove financial capacity and buy a ticket, while a foreign visitor shows a passport and goes in⁷.

If you are a foreign resident in one of these countries, do not assume the tourist age rule applies to you. Check the venue's own policy, and bring your passport.

Penalties for players who break entry rules

The practical risk of ignoring an entry rule falls on you, not just on the casino.

In Singapore, a citizen or permanent resident who enters or attempts to enter casino premises without paying the entry levy can be fined up to S$1,500, and is also liable for the amount of the levy itself². Older versions of the same provision set the fine at S$1,000, so the figure has moved over time¹⁸. Either way, the fine is real and it is enforced at the door.

The casino operator faces its own penalty for letting a citizen or permanent resident in without the levy, which is why staff check status carefully². That is also why entry involves showing your passport or PR card, and why residency status is checked at the entrance rather than negotiated there.

In Vietnam, the exclusion rules are enforced by the casino. If a family member or you yourself have asked the operator to bar you, the casino will not let you play⁷. There is no workaround.

The simplest way to stay out of trouble is to know which group you are in before you travel. If you hold a local passport or permanent residency, expect a levy, an age check or a ban. If you hold a foreign passport and no permanent residency, expect to show it and walk in.