Tax on Gambling Winnings for Tourists and Non-Residents in Asia

Do tourists pay tax on gambling winnings in Asia?

There is no single Asia-wide answer, and that is the first thing to get straight. Each place you might play has its own rule, and the rule often turns on the type of gambling rather than on your passport. A visitor and a resident usually face the same treatment at the point of play, because the tax is taken at the source, before the money reaches you. Where the rules do differ for visitors, it is usually about who is allowed in the door, not about how much tax comes off a win.

The practical pattern is this:

• Some jurisdictions treat gambling winnings as windfalls and do not tax them at all.
• Some tax only certain kinds of winnings, such as lottery prizes above a set figure.
• Some deduct tax at the cage or the payout counter, so what you are handed is already net.
• And some tax the operator heavily while leaving the individual player alone.

Knowing which of these applies where you are standing is the whole game.

Singapore is the clearest example of the windfall approach. Winnings from betting or lottery in Singapore are not taxable, because they are treated as windfalls rather than income¹. That applies to the person receiving the money, whether they are a citizen, a resident or a visitor. If you win on a Singapore lottery ticket or a bet placed there, the amount is not something you owe income tax on in Singapore.

Vietnam sits at the other end for one specific product. Lottery prizes are taxable, but only above a threshold, and the threshold was raised. From July 1, 2026, the taxable part of a prize is the value above VND 20,000,000 per win². So a prize at or below that figure carries no personal income tax, and a larger prize is taxed only on the excess. That is a change worth knowing if you buy a ticket while traveling.

The Philippines shows the withholding model in its purest form for casino play. A 20 percent withholding tax is deducted from individual jackpot payouts exceeding P10,000³. The deduction happens before you are paid, so the figure you are handed is what is left after tax. You do not have to file anything to make that happen; it is done for you at the casino.

Where winnings are taxed at the source: withholding on jackpots and slots

Withholding is the most common way a visitor meets gambling tax in Asia, because it removes the need for you to file anything. The operator takes the tax out and passes it on. What you need to know is the trigger figure and the rate, so you can tell whether the number on the payout slip is gross or net.

In the Philippines, the trigger for casino jackpots is P10,000 per individual payout, and the rate is 20 percent³. Below that figure, no withholding applies. Above it, the tax comes off before payment. The same country later set a final withholding tax on casino jackpot prizes at 20 percent for Filipino citizens and 25 percent for foreigners, with operators acting as withholding agents. That is the structure a visitor should expect: the casino is the one responsible for deducting and remitting, and you receive the net amount.

South Korea handles machine play differently from table play. Prizes and dividends received from using slot machines, video games, coin-operated machines and similar devices are classified as other income⁶. The practical band for tax at the machine runs from KRW 100,100 to KRW 2,000,000 per individual bet, and it applies when the payout rate is over 100 times the amount you put in⁴. In plain terms, a small win below the band is not taxed at the machine, and a very large multiple triggers the deduction.

Thailand taxes some prize money at the counter. For the government lottery, stamp duty is charged at 1 baht of prize money for every 200 baht or fraction of 200 baht⁷. For the charity lottery, income tax is withheld at source at 1 percent of the prize money⁸. These are small percentages, but they are taken before you are paid, so the amount you collect is already net.

China taxes lottery winnings as occasional income, on the full amount of each winning⁹. The same treatment is described in provincial guidance, which states that lottery winnings are occasional income and the tax is calculated on the amount of each income¹⁰. If you are a visitor buying a lottery ticket in mainland China, the tax is part of the payout process rather than something you settle later.

South Korea: what is deducted from winnings at Kangwon Land

Kangwon Land is the one casino in South Korea where Korean citizens are allowed entry, and it is also open to foreign visitors¹¹. That makes it the place most travelers and residents actually go, and it is the casino whose tax treatment is worth understanding in detail. It opened on October 28, 2000, and it is the largest casino in the country¹². It sits in Sabuk-eup, Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province¹³.

The minimum age to enter is 19¹². Bring your passport, because age and identity are checked at the door. The casino is open all year without holidays¹¹. It has 477 rooms, so if you want to stay on site rather than travel in, that is an option¹². Parking is available¹⁴. The main phone line is +82-1588-7789 if you need to ask about anything before you go¹².

On the tax side, the structure is unusual. Ten percent of the casino turnover, along with some taxation, is obliged to revert to the government under the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund Act¹⁵. That is a charge on the operation, not a deduction from your individual win at the table. What reaches you as a player is affected by the machine-play rules described above, where slot and similar machine payouts in the KRW 100,100 to KRW 2,000,000 band, at a payout rate over 100 times your bet, are taxed⁴.

If you have a tax question about a specific win, the casino's main line is the place to start: +82-1588-7789¹². Ask before you leave the property if you are unsure whether a deduction has been applied, because sorting it out later from another country is harder than asking at the cage.

Entry levies and admission taxes: what you pay before you play

Some of the money you pay around gambling in Asia is not tax on winnings at all. It is an entry levy or admission charge, paid before you play, and it applies to specific groups of people. Getting this right matters because visitors are sometimes exempt and sometimes not.

Singapore charges an entry levy to its own citizens and permanent residents, not to foreign visitors. The levy is $100 for every consecutive period of 24 hours, or $3,000 for a valid annual membership of the casino¹⁶. The annual membership figure was raised from $2,000 to $3,000¹⁷. A 24-hour pass costs 100 SGD¹⁸. If you are a visitor to Singapore rather than a citizen or permanent resident, this levy is not aimed at you.

Thailand has legislated an entry levy for foreigners entering a casino, set at 5,000 baht per entry for a foreigner aged 20 or over¹⁹. A separate regulation decision confirms that an entry levy is charged to foreigners entering a casino in Thailand²⁰. Note the age: 20, not 18. If you are a foreign visitor planning to enter a Thai casino, budget for the levy on top of whatever you intend to play.

Vietnam charges its own players an entry fee rather than taxing visitors in the same way. Vietnamese players at casino business points pay 1 million VND per 24 continuous hours per person, or 25 million VND per month per person²¹. Vietnamese players must also show regular income of 10 million VND per month or more, or fall into tax bracket 3 or higher under the Personal Income Tax Law²¹. The same income requirement is described in official guidance²². Authorities have sought higher fees for locals entering a casino, to simplify verifying financial eligibility to gamble²³.

The pattern to remember: entry levies usually target citizens and residents of the country where the casino sits, and visitors often pay a different charge or none at all. Check the specific rule for the place you are going rather than assuming.

Vietnam: lottery winnings and the VND 20 million threshold

Vietnam is worth treating separately because its lottery rule changed, and because the threshold is the kind of figure a visitor can actually use. From July 1, 2026, the taxable part of a lottery prize is the value above VND 20,000,000 per win². The first VND 20 million of each winning prize is not taxed. Only the excess is.

That means a prize of exactly VND 20,000,000 carries no personal income tax. A prize of VND 50,000,000 would be taxed on the VND 30,000,000 above the threshold, not on the whole amount. The rule is written per win, so it applies to each winning prize rather than to your total winnings across several tickets.

Vietnam also distinguishes between types of gambling for tax purposes. Winnings from betting are taxable, while casino winnings are exempt². So the treatment of a lottery prize and the treatment of a casino table win are not the same in Vietnam. If you are in the country and playing different products, do not assume one rule covers both.

For Vietnamese nationals entering a casino, the entry fee and income requirement described above apply²¹. Foreign visitors are not subject to the same local-player conditions. If you are a visitor buying a lottery ticket, the threshold is the figure that matters to you.

Macau winnings and cross-border questions with the mainland

The cross-border question is the one visitors ask most. Mainland Chinese authorities do not operate a withholding system on Macau casino winnings. The practical friction is not a tax deducted at the table but what happens when you carry a large sum back across the border, where customs and banking questions can arise. If you are bringing a significant amount home, the paperwork and declaration side is where the attention goes, not a winnings tax in Macau.

Japan: declaring gambling income and the special income taxes

Japan is the place where a visitor is most likely to have to think about declaring something rather than having tax quietly deducted. Betting ticket winnings can be subject to income tax and comprehensive taxation²⁴. That means the payout itself is not necessarily net, and the obligation can fall on you to report it.

There is an exception for one product. No income tax is imposed on refunds on sports promotion voting²⁵. So the treatment of a sports promotion voting refund differs from the treatment of betting ticket winnings. If you are playing different products in Japan, the tax outcome is not uniform.

Japan also has special income taxes layered on top of the standard income tax. For income arising on or after January 1, 2027, the reconstruction special income tax rate falls to 1.1 percent, and a defense special income tax of 1 percent of the income tax withheld is collected together with it. That is a change to the rates rather than to the principle, and it applies to income arising from that date.

The practical point for a visitor is that Japan is not a place where you can assume the payout counter has handled everything. If you have a significant win on betting tickets, the reporting side is yours to manage. If you are unsure, the operator's published rules are the place to check what is and is not subject to tax.

What the tax rules do not cover

Not every prize is a gambling win, and not every prize is taxed. Hong Kong makes this explicit for lucky draws: no betting duty is charged on winners of ordinary lucky draw activities, and no betting duty document is issued to winners²⁶. So if you win a promotional draw rather than a bet, the betting duty rules do not apply to you.

This matters because visitors often mix up promotional prizes with gambling winnings. A raffle at a shopping mall, a lucky draw at a hotel, or a competition prize is not the same as a casino jackpot or a lottery prize. The tax treatment follows the type of activity, not the fact that you received something for nothing.

The other thing the tax rules do not cover is the question of whether you can play at all. Age limits, entry levies and eligibility conditions decide who gets through the door. In the Philippines, for example, the categories of persons allowed to play include tourists and foreigners who are not residents, residents with a certified gross income of at least P50,000 for the previous year, and guests of qualified persons limited to two, provided the guests are at least 21²⁷. That is an access rule, not a tax rule, but it decides whether you are in the room when the tax question arises.

If you want the wider picture of how each jurisdiction treats winnings, the tax on gambling winnings in Asia guide covers the whole map. For the specific case of prizes rather than table play, see tax on lottery winnings in Asia. And if you are planning to bring a large sum home, taking casino winnings home deals with the declaration side.