Kangwon Land to reopen for fully vaccinated clients

Kangwon Land will reopen on November 1 for those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

South Korea.- The South Korean casino Kangwon Land has confirmed that authorities have allowed the casino to resume operations from November 1. Only people who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed to enter. People will need to show a vaccine pass proving that they have been fully vaccinated.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea said the rule does not apply to the country’s 16 foreign-only casinos. New details are expected on Friday. The Ministry of Health has reported a total of 1,266 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. 

Due to the lack of tourists as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lee Sang-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea on the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, has suggested casinos should be allowed to introduce online gambling services.

According to the Korea Casino Association, South Korea’s foreigner-only casinos recorded aggregate gambling sales of KRW178.29bn (US$151.3m) during the first half of the year. In 2020, the figure was KRW597.8bn, down 60 per cent year-on-year when compared to 2019 when the industry collected a total of KRW1.45tn.

Kangwon Land Inc., the only casino in South Korea that is open to locals, had casino sales of KRW302.17bn in the first half of the year. It welcomed 286,611 tourists. In 2020 the casino operator reported sales for KRW443.55bn and registered a tally of 599,265 visitors.

In the first half of this year, the total gaming sales of the 16 foreign-only casinos in South Korea came to KRW178.29bn while the full-year sales in 2020 were KRW597.8bn.