South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok has told the nation’s gambling regulator to respond to a rise in youth gambling by creating a “safety net.”
Kim was speaking after the regulator, the National Gambling Control Commission (NGCC), swore in several new board members, the South Korean media outlet Newsis reported.
The NGCC reports directly to the Prime Minister and combines supervisory functions for gaming operators with measures to address gambling addiction.
Kim urged the NGCC to devise new strategies to help curb the rise in gambling addiction in younger age groups.
“The problem of youth gambling has become serious of late,” he said. “Please devote all of your efforts to prevention and the establishment of a comprehensive safety net. We must ensure the stable growth of our youth, who are the future of our society.”
South Korean Prime Minister: ‘A Gambling Quagmire’
The regulator draws its members from both the public and private sectors. Its members include government ministers, administrators, lawyers, and tourism sector representatives.
“The NGCC’s committee serves as a guardian that prevents our society from falling into the quagmire of gambling,” Kim said.
The Prime Minister was speaking after studies revealed that youth gambling rates are on the rise in South Korea.
A senior lawmaker recently warned that the financial cost of youth gambling-related problems in South Korea has climbed to $1.4 billion.
Despite Kim’s grave-sounding warnings, gambling is a double-edged sword for the South Korean government. Several of the country’s biggest casino operators are government-owned.
Revenues from gambling-related tourism are also skyrocketing. On the subtropical island province of Jeju alone, casinos raked in a total of $436 million in the past financial year.
That marks a 41% rise from 2024.
Jeju Casino Industry’s Revenue Boost
In preliminary figures released earlier this month, and reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, visitor numbers to Jeju casinos also rose by almost 38% to just short of 100,000.
For the government, this translates to another massive inflow of cash, in the form of taxes and other charges.
All Jeju-based casinos are obliged to pay contributions to the government-operated Jeju Tourism Promotion Fund.
The size of these contributions depends on casino revenues. As such, FY2025’s rise in footfall and sales saw Jeju casinos pay the fund over $42 million. This represents a 44% increase on FY2024.
Casino revenues continue to rise. In the first quarter of FY2026, gaming revenues at the High1 integrated casino-resort hit the 360 billion won mark ($244 million), marking a 4.5% year-on-year increase.
High1 is operated by Kangwon Land, a central government-run company. Its shareholders include the South Korean national pension fund.
Kim followed up his youth gambling-related concerns with an appeal for the regulator to continue “exploring ways to revitalize local economies.”
He asked the body to help “enhance the public’s leisure lives, attract foreign tourists, and create jobs, based on a sound environment for the gambling industry.”
