South Korea’s president questions private casino licences and demands data-driven gambling policy

President Lee Jae-myung has signalled a tougher stance on casino policy, questioning whether highly profitable foreigner-only casinos should be in private hands at all and ordering ministries and operators to deliver precise evidence on gambling harms before any future licensing decisions are made.

South Korea’s president Lee Jae-myung has openly challenged the country’s approach to casino licensing, describing private licences for foreigner-only casinos as a “significant favour” and urging officials to reconsider whether such profits should remain in the hands of private operators. His comments came during a series of policy briefings with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and other ministries in mid-December.

According to local business media, Lee pressed Yoon Doo-hyun, CEO of state-controlled Grand Korea Leisure (GKL), on the company’s profitability, with Yoon reporting an expected surplus of KRW 40–50bn for the year, excluding labour costs. Lee then questioned why similarly lucrative casino licences were being issued to private-sector foreigner-only casinos, arguing that it was “not appropriate to grant licences for this to the private sector, to specific individuals” and telling MCST to “keep this in mind” in future policy decisions.

His remarks triggered an immediate market reaction, with shares in private foreigner-only operators such as Paradise Co and Lotte Tour Development falling in the wake of the briefing. Investors read the comments as a signal that Seoul could slow or tighten approvals for new private casino projects, even as the broader foreigner-only segment is enjoying strong post-pandemic growth.

The president also used the meetings to push for a more rigorous, evidence-based assessment of gambling-related harm. In a separate exchange with GKL’s leadership, Lee requested detailed statistics on gambling addiction and was reportedly dissatisfied when the data could not be presented on the spot. He has now instructed the presidential office to independently review available figures, stating that policymakers “need to see whether harms are increasing or decreasing, and what policy efforts are needed” instead of relying on assumptions or broad impressions.

Lee warned that gambling could become one of the “terminal symptoms that signal a nation’s decline” when paired with predatory lending and unrealistic expectations of quick financial rescue. At the same time, he acknowledged that properly regulated gambling can play a role in leisure and tourism, indicating that the government’s next step will be to balance economic benefits against social risks using more robust data.

For Korea’s casino industry – currently built around Kangwon Land, the only venue open to locals, and 17 foreigner-only casinos – the president’s comments add a new layer of uncertainty. Any shift toward greater state control or stricter criteria for private licences could affect future investment decisions, particularly for resort projects that are still in the planning or approval phase. Industry stakeholders now face the dual challenge of demonstrating both economic value and credible harm-mitigation strategies if they want to secure political backing for expansion.