Kangwon Land is the only casino Koreans can enter because of a 1995 statute, enacted as the Special Act on the Assistance to the Development of Abandoned Mine Areas. Its Article 11 lets the culture minister permit one casino in a severely depressed former coal-mining area and disapplies, for that operator alone, a Tourism Promotion Act provision.
This is an evergreen explainer, read off the statute’s English translation and the operator’s own pages on 18 October 2026.
Why is Kangwon Land the only casino Koreans can enter, according to the operator?
Kangwon Land’s corporate page puts it in one line: of 17 casinos in Korea, 16 are for foreigners only, and “due to a special act” Kangwon Land is the only one that accepts Koreans.
The act is Act No. 5089 of 29 December 1995, in an English translation from the Korea Legislation Research Institute, which marks it as reference only.
What does Article 11 of the special act say?
Article 11 is headed “Special Cases on Application of the Tourism Promotion Act”. In the translation read:
- Paragraph 1: notwithstanding the permission requirements of Article 21 of the Tourism Promotion Act, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism may permit casino business at one location, set by Presidential Decree, among severely depressed abandoned mine areas.
- Paragraph 3: Article 28(1)4 of the Tourism Promotion Act does not apply to that operator, though the minister may restrict operation on admission by decree to prevent excessively speculative behaviour.
- Paragraph 5: up to 25/100 of profits from the casino and its hotel and amusement businesses goes to tourism and regional development in the mine areas (amended 26 January 2012).
Paragraph 3 is the answer. Every other house stays under the Tourism Promotion Act regime set out in our foreigner-only licence requirements explainer. Article 28’s own text was not read.
Why does the exception sit with a public company?
Kangwon Land’s company page names the special act and the Commercial Act as its basis of establishment and says 51% of its shares are held by the Mine Reclamation Corporation under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Gangwondo Development Corporation and four mine-area local governments: Jeongseon-gun, Taebaek-si, Yeongwol-gun and Samcheok-si.
Does the special act still run after 2025?
The translation’s addenda say the act holds force until 31 December 2025, as amended in 2005 and 2012, and the operator’s company page still lists that extension. The date has passed. Asia Gaming Brief reported on 24 February 2021 that a National Assembly committee had pushed through an extension of the licence to 2045; this desk has not read the promulgated amendment. KLRI now titles the law the Special Act on Support for Development of Coal Industry Transition Regions; its current text was not read.
How many casinos are foreigner-only?
The operator’s “17 total, 16 foreigner-only” is undated. Our earlier count of foreigner-only casinos, which read the Korea Casino Association’s Korean page on 17 October 2026, found 17 plus Kangwon Land; Inspire’s 2024 permission accounts for the gap. The operator was reported in August 2026 to be building a foreigners-only zone inside its own casino.
Questions readers ask
Can only foreigners go to casinos in Korea?
At every casino but one, yes. Kangwon Land’s own page says 16 of Korea’s 17 casinos admit foreigners only; this site’s 17 October 2026 read of the Korea Casino Association list found 17 plus Kangwon Land. Either way, Kangwon Land in Gangwon Province is the single exception, which it attributes to a special act.
Should casinos allow Koreans?
The statute answers narrowly rather than in principle. Article 11 lifts one casino, at a location chosen because its economy is severely depressed, out of a Tourism Promotion Act provision, and keeps a ministerial power to restrict admission by decree against excessively speculative behaviour. Local access is a regional-development exception, and this desk takes no side on widening it.
Does the abandoned mine areas act still apply after 2025?
The English translation on KLRI carries a 31 December 2025 end date, which has passed. Asia Gaming Brief reported in February 2021 that a National Assembly committee had pushed through an extension to 2045. KLRI now lists the act under a new title, but its current text was not read, so its present terms are not stated here.
This is a statute map for the operators, suppliers and analysts who price Korea’s casino sector, written for an adult trade readership. Kajino Scout holds no licence, runs no tables and steers no one towards a casino floor.