Casinos in South Korea

South Korea is one of Asia's more surprising casino destinations. There are 17 of them, from a small gaming zone inside Incheon Airport's hotel complex to a mountain resort casino in Gangwon Province that ranks among the largest in the country¹. Almost all of them exist for visitors: 16 of the 17 admit foreign passport holders only, and just one, Kangwon Land, lets Korean citizens through the doors¹. If you are traveling in Korea on a foreign passport, you have more choice than most locals ever will, and this page walks you through what there is, where it sits, and how a first visit works.

Foreigner-only casinos: 16 venues, passport required

The backbone of Korean casino gambling is the foreigner-only venue. These 16 casinos were set up under the country's tourism laws to draw overseas visitors, and they cluster where tourists already go: Seoul, the Incheon airport area, Busan, Jeju and a handful of resort towns¹. The rule at every one of them is the same: you show your passport at the entrance so staff can confirm your nationality, and Korean nationals are not admitted². Holders of overseas permanent residence status are treated as foreign customers at some venues, including Paradise City⁷.

What is striking is how uniform the practical side is. Entry is free at the Paradise group's casinos, which make up a large share of the foreigner-only market, and they stay open 24 hours a day, all year round³. There is no dress code at Paradise venues either, so smart casual travel clothes are fine³. The floors themselves vary widely in scale, from a few dozen tables to the 183 table games and 289 slot machines at the Paradise City casino near Incheon Airport⁸.

The main venues at a glance:

For a deeper look at the individual venues, we have full pages on Paradise Casino Walkerhill, Seven Luck Casino, Inspire Casino and Resort in Incheon, the casinos in Jeju and the casinos in Busan, plus detailed guides to Kangwon Land Casino at High1 Resort, Paradise City Casino and Jeju Dream Tower Casino.

Kangwon Land: the one casino Koreans can enter

Kangwon Land sits in Sabuk-eup, Jeongseon County, in the mountains of Gangwon Province, and it holds a unique position: it is the only casino in South Korea where Korean residents and foreigners can walk in together⁴. It opened on October 28, 2000 as the first casino in the country allowed to serve Korean customers, under special legislation that permitted exactly one such venue¹⁸. It was fully renovated as a hotel casino on March 28, 2003, with a 477-room special first-class hotel attached²⁰.

It is also the biggest casino in the country, with a gaming floor of about 13,000 pyeong and roughly 200 table games alongside 1,360 slot machines and video games⁴. Here is how the floor breaks down²²:

The resort setting matters as much as the floor. Kangwon Land is part of the High1 Resort complex, with the High1 Ski Resort, High1 Water World and the Kangwon Land Gondola nearby, along with local markets in Jeongseon²¹. Inside the casino you will find:

• a Mint Bar and a full restaurant
• the Crystal Lounge, plus a club and lounge
• a free beverage bar serving tea and soft drinks⁴

The casino opens from midday to 6 a.m. the next morning, and it operates all year without holidays⁶.

Entry works differently here than at the foreigner-only venues. Kangwon Land charges an entry tax built into the ticket, made up of KRW 6,300 individual consumption tax, KRW 1,890 education tax and KRW 810 additional tax, but customers holding a foreign passport, or a Korean citizen's overseas permanent residence passport, are exempt from the tax when they show the passport at the door⁶. Korean nationals must show a resident registration card or driver's license; a passport alone does not work for them because it cannot confirm their place of residence⁶. The minimum age here is 20, counted from your birthday at the time of entry, and anyone who has been drinking is barred⁶. Our full guide to Kangwon Land Casino at High1 Resort covers the entry rules, games and how to get there.

Seoul: Walkerhill and Seven Luck

Seoul has two main casino names, and both are foreigner-only.

Paradise Casino Walkerhill is the older of the two and the country's first casino, sitting in the Grand Walkerhill Seoul hotel on a hill overlooking the Han River in Gwangjin-gu¹. It runs around the clock, 365 days a year, with about 300 game tables and slot machines in total⁹. The current lineup includes 86 baccarat tables, 8 blackjack tables, 20 other table games and 205 slot machines and electronic table games¹⁰. There is a bar for food and drinks plus a currency exchange on site⁹.

Seven Luck Casino is the other Seoul player, run by Grand Korea Leisure with branches in the capital and Busan. The Gangnam COEX branch, at 58 Teheran-ro 87-gil in Samseong-dong, opened on January 27, 2006 and operates 24 hours with no closing days¹¹. It carries 51 gaming tables and 110 gaming machines, with roulette, blackjack, baccarat, tai sai, Big Wheel, Caribbean poker and slots¹¹. The Seoul Dragon City branch, on the 5th floor of the Dragon City Convention Tower at 95 Cheongpa-ro 20-gil in Yongsan-gu, is also open 24 hours and offers baccarat, blackjack, roulette, sic bo, Seven Luck poker, casino war, electronic table games and slot machines¹³. Seven Luck runs an airport information desk service for arriving visitors and has its own mobile app²⁵.

Incheon: Paradise City, Inspire and the airport casinos

The Incheon area, on Yeongjongdo island where the international airport sits, has become Korea's biggest casino cluster, and it is where a visitor with a layover or a first night in the country will most easily find a floor.

Paradise City Casino opened in 2017 at 186 Yeongjonghaeannam-ro 321beon-gil, Jung-gu, Incheon, and it is the largest foreigner-only casino in the country, with 183 table games and 289 slot machines¹. The games include blackjack at various limits, European and American roulette, Texas Hold'em poker, Tai Sai and Big Wheel¹. It runs 24 hours year-round, parking is available, and the dress code is casual⁷. Foreign nationals and overseas permanent residence holders may enter; Korean nationals may not²⁷.

Money on the floor works like this⁷:

• Chips are bought at open tables or the chip exchange in the casino center.
• Credit cards and foreign currency are handled at the cashier.
• Slots and electronic table games take Korean won cash or dedicated tickets.
• Tickets are redeemed at redemption machines or the cashier on the way out.

Smoking is not allowed at game tables, though separate smoking booths are provided, and photography inside is not allowed, so take your pictures at the entrance⁷.

The Paradise group also runs a casino branch directly at the Incheon Airport passenger terminal area, with a GAMING ZONE offering baccarat, blackjack and roulette, a VIP ZONE for high-stakes play, and a Dine & Drink area⁸. This is the closest casino to the airport itself.

Nearby, Inspire Casino and Resort is a full integrated resort whose casino is billed as Korea's largest foreigner-only casino, alongside an arena, an indoor water park, seminar rooms, a sports complex, a fitness center and banquet halls²⁸. Between Paradise City and Inspire, the island gives you two large resort casinos within a short drive of the arrivals hall.

Busan and Jeju: casinos by the sea and on the island

Busan, Korea's second city, has its main gaming floor at Paradise Casino Busan, inside the Paradise Hotel at 1408-5 Jung-dong, Haeundae-gu, right on the beach¹⁶. It is the largest casino in Busan, with 29 baccarat tables, 2 blackjack tables, 2 roulette tables, 3 other table games, 1 additional table, 105 slot machines and electronic table games¹⁰. The games on offer are blackjack, baccarat, roulette and slot machines, and parking is available³⁰. Seven Luck also has a Busan Lotte branch, styled as a traditional European casino and described as a landmark of the seaside city³².

Jeju, the resort island south of the mainland, has the most casinos of any Korean region outside the capital area. The named venues are Jeju Dream Tower Casino, the largest on the island, plus Lotte Casino, Oriental Casino, Sun Casino and Plaza Casino, and together they run more than 100 gaming tables and more than 200 slot machines, with baccarat-centered operations and Chinese-language service common in the smaller rooms¹. Hotel casinos round out the list:

• Jeju Shilla Hotel Casino: roulette, blackjack, baccarat and slots in a traditional Western European style, open all year round¹⁷
• Jeju KAL Hotel Casino: open 24 hours with no closing days³¹
• Majesta Jeju Casino: roulette, blackjack, baccarat and slot machines²³
• Paradise Casino Jeju Grand: 1st floor of MAISON GLAD Jeju at 80 Noyeon-ro, Jeju City, open 24 hours¹⁵

Our casinos in Jeju page covers the island in detail, and there is a dedicated guide to Jeju Dream Tower Casino.

One more venue worth knowing about is Alpensia Casino in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, a foreigner-only casino at 325 Solbong-ro, Daegwallyeong-myeon, with blackjack, baccarat and roulette tables plus slot machines, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with capacity for 150 people²⁹.

Games you will find on the floor

The game mix across Korean casinos is fairly consistent, and it leans heavily toward table games, especially baccarat. A typical floor offers baccarat, blackjack, roulette, tai sai (sic bo), Big Wheel, various poker variants and slot machines¹. Paradise City adds Texas Hold'em to that list¹, Seven Luck's Dragon City branch adds casino war and electronic table games¹⁴, and Kangwon Land runs the widest spread of all, from 93 baccarat tables down to 2 Big Wheel tables, plus Caribbean Stud, Three Card Poker and Hold'em among its 12 poker tables²².

Electronic table games are a growing presence. Kangwon Land alone runs 272 electronic table game machines, on which you can play baccarat, blackjack, roulette, tai sai and casino war without a live dealer⁴. Slot and video machines dominate by sheer count: 1,360 at Kangwon Land, 289 at Paradise City, 205 at Walkerhill and 105 in Busan⁴. Our pages on casino games in South Korea and slot machines and game rooms in South Korea go into the detail.

Entry rules, documents and house rules

The practical rules are simple and consistent. Bring your passport: every foreigner-only casino checks it to confirm your age and nationality, and you will be turned away without it². Entry is free at Paradise venues³. The minimum age is 19 at the foreigner-only casinos, while Kangwon Land applies its 20-by-birthday rule to everyone, foreign visitors included¹. Dress is casual at Paradise City, and neat attire is expected at all Korean casinos¹.

A few house rules recur across venues:

• Cameras, electronic devices and metal objects cannot be brought into Paradise casinos³.
• Photography on the premises is not allowed at Paradise City, where photos are taken at the entrance instead⁷.
• Smoking is banned at game tables, with separate smoking booths provided⁷.
• Casinos can refuse entry to anyone who is visibly intoxicated or causing a disturbance, and Kangwon Land bars drinkers outright⁷.
• Operators must verify the identity of everyone entering and bar persons subject to entry restrictions, including people whose spouse or direct blood relatives have filed a written entry-prohibition request over gambling addiction³⁴.

For Korean citizens, the position is plain: residents are not permitted entry into licensed casinos except for the Gangwon Province facility, so Kangwon Land is the only option³⁶. Foreign visitors and foreign residents with the right documents face no such restriction at the 16 foreigner-only venues.

Online casinos and other legal gambling

Online gambling is a different matter from the land-based casinos. Internet gambling is prohibited in South Korea, even though some land-based forms are legal, and real-money online casino play is not allowed³⁷. Some international sites accept Korean players and offer live dealer blackjack, roulette, baccarat, poker, game shows and bingo, but these operate outside the Korean system³⁶. Our page on online gambling in South Korea covers the details and risks.

The legal land-based options beyond casinos are worth knowing about. Korean law recognizes casinos, horse racing, cycle racing, motorboat racing, lotteries, sports promotion betting tickets and bullfighting as legal gambling³⁸. In practice that means you can bet on horse racing, cycle racing and motorboat racing, buy lottery tickets, or place sports bets through the official pools. Card games like poker and blackjack outside licensed casinos, along with hwatu flower cards and adult game rooms, fall on the illegal side³⁸. The full picture is on our gambling in South Korea page.