Official language: Korean
Population: 49,540,367
Currency: South Korean Won (KRW)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = KRW
1 GBP = KRW
1 USD = KRW

Quick links
Online gambling sites in South Korea
Online casinos in South Korea
Online poker sites in South Korea
Online sportsbooks in South Korea
Online bingo in South Korea
Mobile casinos in South Korea
South Korea gambling news

Casinos in South Korea
The casino industry in South Korea is very young. For many years, gambling in the country was restricted to placing wagers on horse races. This all changed in 2000. In the few years since the gambling ban was lifted, more than 20 casinos have emerged throughout South Korea, mostly concentrated in and around Seoul. Since these casinos started opening, tourism in the country has doubled, and some contribute the increase to the expanding casino market.

The first casino to open after the ban was lifted in 2000 was built in Chongson, a remote mining town that was in bad shape after the mining industry there collapsed. On opening day queues formed outside the Small Casino Hotel. They offered 480 slot machines and 30 table games. Today, it is one of many casinos in the area where South Koreans can go to gamble.

Online Casinos in South Korea
In spite of the lift on casino gambling in the country, there are no online casinos in South Korea. The government has never made any indication that they will give out licenses to South Korean casinos which would let them operate on the internet. This means the only option for players in South Korea who want to gamble at online casinos is to use foreign internet casino websites.

Not surprisingly the South Korean government does not want its citizens playing at foreign casinos. Normally, there is not much they can do to prevent this from happening, because the online casinos South Koreans use are hosted in countries where the government has no jurisdiction. In February 2008, however, the South Korean government successfully took legal action against one foreign internet casino. This was possible because the casino had ties with a company in South Korea. But even in this situation players were never punished – only the casino company got in trouble.