The South Korean government has ordered the Kangwon Land casino in Gangwon Province to restrict players to 100 visits per year.
According to Inside Asian Gaming, the request was disclosed by the country’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) in its regular audit report. It said, “The effectiveness of (current) measures to prevent gambling addiction, such as the access restriction system, are insufficient.
“The National Assembly has requested Kangwon Land reduce the number of days of casino users to less than 100 days a year”—a 32 percent reduction—”to prevent the occurrence of high-risk customers who enter the casino excessively.”
The limit now stands at 148 days per year, meaning a gambler could enter and play almost three days a week.
JP Morgan analysts said the change should not affect profitability at the resort complex. “First, this isn’t really new news,” wrote analysts DS Kim and Livy Lyu in a note. “Those visiting Kangwon Land more than 100 days a year accounted for only about 0.3 percent of total players, even before Covid. …. In short, we view this headline as largely a non-event.”
In 2021, Kangwon Land won a 20-year extension to its casino license until 2045. In return, it agreed to a 13 direct tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR), as opposed to a 25 percent tax, or an effective rate of 31 percent.
Located about 93 miles from Seoul, Kangwon Land was borne out of Korea’s conversion to gas and oil for energy, leading to the closure of mines in Gangwon Province in 1989.
