South Korea’s gambling market grew by just 2.9% in 2025.
Its casino industry grew almost five times faster.
Official data from the National Gambling Control Commission (NGCC) show casino gross gaming revenue rising 14.6% year-on-year, from KRW3.226 trillion to KRW3.696 trillion.
The strongest growth did not come from Kangwon Land, the country’s only casino permitted to admit South Korean nationals.
It came from the 17 casinos reserved for foreign customers.
Their combined revenue increased 21.6%, from KRW1.861 trillion in 2024 to KRW2.264 trillion in 2025, while visitor numbers rose 18.7% from 2.944 million to 3.494 million.
The result is a casino market increasingly being driven by international demand rather than domestic gambling growth.
Foreign casinos accounted for most of the sector’s growth
The difference between the two sides of South Korea’s casino market is substantial.
Kangwon Land recorded KRW1.432 trillion in casino revenue during 2025, an increase of 5.0%. Admissions rose by a similar 4.5% to 2.479 million.
Foreigner-only casinos expanded more than four times faster.
Their additional KRW402.4 billion in annual revenue represented the large majority of the KRW470 billion increase recorded across South Korea’s entire casino sector.
That growth also came without an expansion in the number of properties.
South Korea had 17 foreigner-only casinos in both 2024 and 2025, alongside Kangwon Land. The increase therefore reflects greater activity across the existing market rather than a wave of new casino openings.
Visitor growth explains much of the difference
The 21.6% increase in foreigner-only casino revenue was accompanied by an 18.7% increase in visitors.
That matters because it suggests the sector’s growth was primarily supported by a larger customer base rather than a dramatic increase in spending per visitor.
Using the NGCC figures, revenue per foreign-casino visit increased only modestly between the two years.
The regulator reports an average betting amount of KRW650,000 per visitor for foreigner-only casinos in 2025, compared with KRW580,000 at Kangwon Land.
South Korea’s casino recovery is therefore increasingly connected to its ability to attract and convert international visitors into gaming customers.
For operators such as Paradise and Grand Korea Leisure, as well as integrated resorts targeting overseas guests, that makes tourism flows, air connectivity and international customer acquisition increasingly important commercial indicators.
Casinos are separating from the wider gambling market
The contrast becomes stronger when casinos are placed beside South Korea’s other regulated gambling sectors.
Total regulated gambling turnover increased from KRW25.302 trillion in 2024 to KRW26.027 trillion in 2025, a rise of 2.9%.
Casino revenue increased 14.6%.
Horse racing declined 1.4%. Bicycle racing fell 2.0%, motorboat racing declined 3.3%, while lottery sales increased 4.5% and Sports Toto grew only 1.2%.
The aggregate market therefore hides very different trajectories.
Some traditional domestic gambling products are contracting or growing slowly, while casinos serving international visitors are expanding at double-digit rates.
There is also another structural change beneath those numbers.
Horse racing’s online turnover increased 87.6% despite the overall category declining, while Sports Toto’s online sales increased 42.2% as physical-store sales fell 5.6%.
South Korea’s gambling market is not simply getting larger. Activity is moving between audiences and channels.
The foreign-casino segment is becoming harder to treat as a niche
Foreigner-only casinos generated 61.3% of South Korea’s total casino revenue in 2025.
They also attracted more visitors than Kangwon Land: 3.494 million compared with 2.479 million.
That creates a different competitive environment from the domestic casino market.
Foreign-casino operators are competing not only against each other for gaming customers, but also for a share of the international visitor economy surrounding Seoul, Incheon, Busan and Jeju.
The commercial opportunity extends beyond casino operators themselves.
Gaming suppliers, hotel operators, entertainment companies, payment providers and businesses serving international visitors all have exposure to how that segment develops.
The important number in South Korea’s latest gambling statistics is therefore not simply the 2.9% increase in the overall market.
It is the widening gap underneath it.
South Korea’s gambling market grew modestly in 2025. Its foreigner-only casino industry did not.
At 21.6% growth, that segment is increasingly becoming a market of its own.
Source: South Korea National Gambling Control Commission (NGCC), 2025 gambling industry statistics. The NGCC records casino “turnover” as net casino revenue / actual customer expenditure under Article 30 of the Enforcement Decree of the Tourism Promotion Act, so casino figures should not be compared mechanically with gross wagering turnover in pari-mutuel and lottery sectors.
East Asia Reports
Web: eastasiareports.com · Email: [email protected]
Author — Adrià Mas Rodríguez