From Kangwon Land Casino to betting on races, Korea’s gambling scene has witnessed a fair mix of drama and excitement in 2023. Due to the legal restrictions on gambling in Korea, Korean locals have innovated new methods by taking advantage of the bounds acceptable to the law. As expected, there have been legislative and policy responses to these innovations.
In summary:
- Gambling is largely illegal in Korea, but there are a few exceptions within which citizens and foreigners can gamble with real money.
- Gambling revenues have witnessed incredible progress in recent months, and that all comes down to one thing: if you know your way around, you can still get the best gambling experience in Korea.
This article takes you through the gambling scene in Korea as of 2023. Let’s get right into it.
Korea’s Gambling Scene in 2023: What the Laws Say
Generally, South Korea’s government considers gambling unlawful. However, there are exceptions, as these countries permit controlled lotteries and sports betting, while only foreigners can use most Korean casinos.
As of 2023, the gambling market has generated trillions of won in income for South Korea’s tourism sector. Despite the stern legal and cultural restrictions, South Koreans can still bet on most games, lotteries, and sports by using overseas-based sites like those in an updated list of recommended casino sites. In 2022, over 25.34% of South Koreans engaged in sports betting, with football grossing the highest patronage.
Various betting forms offer exciting, sometimes profitable, and legally permissible gambling experiences in Korea. Let’s take a look at some of them.
1. Lottery
As of 2023, the lottery in South Korea is floating quite well. The country boasts different forms of lottery, starting with the House Lotto, which was launched in 1969. The lottery accounts for a large share of South Korea’s gambling revenue, which, according to a 2023 Statista report, stood at ₩6 trillion. Recently, South Korea’s Bok-won has been quite the rave. Many have attributed it to its methods, which include a tax rate of 22% and lucrative fixed odds.
The story is much different in North Korea, where the Motherland Defense, its first lottery, was created in the 1950s and flopped. In the 1990s, the government introduced the People’s Lottery with a mouth-watering $235 million cash prize. But rumors spread that the lottery was introduced to raise money for Kum II Sung’s birthday. A further attempt by the North Korean government in the 2000s to introduce an online lottery also flopped.
2. Bicycle Racing
South Korea drew inspiration from Japan’s betting system, except that, unlike Japan, the government disapproves of off-track betting. Locals participate more in bicycle racing because the betting slips and websites feature Hangul, a common language among the locals. This year, South Korea’s revenue from bicycle racing betting stood at ₩380 billion.
3. Sports Betting
Football takes a huge chunk of South Korea’s sports betting industry, generating ₩3.4 trillion worth of ticket sales. South Korean locals bet on football and other sports in toto-style. Here, the sportsbooks and winners each take 50% of total bets.
4. Horse Racing
In South Korea, horse race betting is the oldest form of gambling and is highly patronized by locals and foreigners. Locals are permitted to wager with a maximum of ₩100,000 and only 16% of the pari-mutuel betting, meaning bets are not placed against sportsbooks but between players. As of 2021, South Korea generated ₩1.05 trillion in revenue from horse racing alone.
Koreans and Online Casinos in 2023
Korean governments are proactive in their push against online gambling activities and have deployed SSL encryption and introduced various task forces to hack down online betting. But this does little to nothing because South Korea’s Kangwon Casino and many others continue to record incredible revenue and profits; however, only a handful of Koreans can afford to go to these islands to play.
As of 2023, locals have resorted to playing online and using VPNs to hide their location and bypass site restrictions. Also, Korea’s gambling laws do not cover overseas online casinos where any player of the legal age will be admitted to play.
Incredible tech and decentralized finance advances have defined Korea’s gambling scene in 2023. As a result, Koreans have developed innovative mechanisms to enjoy the best of both worlds: gambling online while making the most of the accepted betting variants in their countries.
