SOUTH KOREA

Authorities accused of lax regulation

South Korea’s casino regulators have been lax in their oversight for the past three years and the government needs to increase the level of mandatory punishments, a lawmaker said.

Rep. Kim Su-Min, a member of the opposition Bareunmirae Part, was given documents regarding infractions from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which oversees the sector, according to the Korea Times.

The documents show that four of the 16 foreigner-only casinos faced six administrative punishments after violating laws between 2016 and 2018, but did not face suspension of their licenses, the report said.

The infractions included a 475 million won ($395,000) embezzlement case at Grand Korea Leisure’s Seven Luck Casino. The incident involved an employee who misappropriated chips in collusion with a customer and tampered with electronic gaming machines over 469 times in six months from February 2016.

In addition, a Korean national was admitted to the foreigner-only casino 15 times in the same year, while an employee working at Seven Luck Casino in Busan was also caught colluding with a customer and pocketing 45 million won.

Kim said the ministry had only imposed “corrective orders,” which is the lowest disciplinary action possible.

At Paradise Casino Walkerhill in Seoul, a worker colluded with a customer to misappropriate over 80 million won. It also illegally admitted a Korean national to gamble there on 1,000 occasions, and another one on 20 occasions. It also only received corrective orders in 2017 and 2018.

“While 2.2 million people are struggling with gambling addiction in Korea, the ministry has failed to come up with strict regulations against casinos but only slapped them on the wrist,” Kim was cited as saying, urging the National Assembly to revise the relevant law to impose mandatory tougher punishments.

Korea’s only operator to allow locals, Kangwon Land, has been mired in controversy over the past few years after former CEO Choi Heung-jip was arrested as part of a probe into nepotism. The state-owned company was accused of hiring hundreds of staff based on their connections to lawmakers.

A total of 493 people, which represents almost 95 percent of the total hire, were taken on solely for their links to influential people.

Paradise Busan gets new poker room

Suncity Group’s Poker King Club has teamed with South Korea’s Paradise Co. to open a poker room in the operator’s casino in Busan. Poker King Club Vice-President, David Chee, met with Paradise Casino Division Chief, MingZhong Kim in October to finalize the details of the new venture in a small signing ceremony.

The Paradise Hotel and Casino is Busan has 532 rooms and is close to Haeundae Beach. The new poker room will feature Short Deck format and No Limit Hold’em games at different levels. VIP guests will also have an array of special services from the casino, including a private room service for when they stay at the hotel.

Novomatic installs machines at Kangwon Land

Novomatic has installed 68 NOVOMATIC gaming machines at luxury resort, Kangwon Land.

Kangwon Land comprises the High 1 Ski and Golf Resort including the hotel & casino and is operated by the national government, together with the provincial office of Gangwon-do. Among a total number of 17 casinos in Korea, Kangwon Land Casino is the country’s largest and the only one where Korean residents are allowed to play.

Kangwon Land’s casino floor offers some 200 live gaming tables, 208 ETGs and 1,360 slot machines. The latest additions, increase the total count of NOVOMATIC machines on the casino floor to 280 units, or over 20 percent of the floor share.