South Korea may raise minimun age for casino attendants

A bill has been submitted on the South Korean National Assembly in order to get the minimum age to enter casinos to increase from 19 to 21.

South Korea.- The casino industry may receive a blow should a recently-introduced bill get passed by the South Korea’s National Assembly. The proposed legislation would raise the minimum age to access gaming venues from the current 19 to 21 years old.

In case the bill gets passed, the Tourism Promotion Act would see its articles 22 and 28 being changed in order to impact every one of the 17 casinos licenced by that legislation. The proposal was submitted by lawmaker Kim Kwang-soo (also sponsored by the other nine) and is aimed at preventing gambling addiction among the South Korean youth.

The only venue which admits local gamblers, Kangwon Land casino is expected to be the one to suffer the most if the bill gets approved (according to a GGRAsia source) as it relies on locals’ play. Its profit had already fallen by 32.1% during full year 2018 dueto an 8.3% drop in gaming revenue.

The Korea Casino Association is expected to submit an opposing opinion to the country’s National Assembly, as reported by the Asian news outlet, in order to prevent the minimum age to be raised.

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