South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) is proposing legal amendments that could require casinos to record transaction and personal information for patrons no matter how low their betting amounts, as part of enhanced anti-money laundering (AML) controls. That is according to industry sources spoken to by GGRAsia.
The proposed changes would be to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information.
Details said to be part of the suggested changes were outlined to GGRAsia by a representative at Kangwon Land Inc – an operator of the country’s only locals-play casino Kangwon Land – in response to enquiries.
The KoFIU operates under the country’s Financial Services Commission (FSC).
Another casino industry source told GGRAsia that the proposed amendments to transaction-recording would require all South Korean casinos to record information on any patron purchasing even a single KRW1,000 (US$0.67) chip, typically the lowest denomination.
The act currently requires recording of player details – and reporting to the KoFIU – on casino buy-ins of KRW10 million and above. Kangwon Land Inc itself already opts to impose a lower threshold of KRW3 million for recording transaction details.
South Korea implemented its currency-transaction reporting system for financial institutions and casinos in 2006, when the threshold was set at KRW50 million. The threshold has been lowered gradually since then. It went to KRW30 million in 2008; KRW20 million in 2010; and KRW10 million in 2019, according to the KoFIU’s website.
A Kangwon Land Inc representative noted to GGRAsia that the latest proposed amendments would require casinos to treat every patron as a repeat customer and keep thorough records of dates of casino visits, and types of game played, as well as any chip and cash transactions. Such records could be reported to the KoFIU upon its request.
That representative stated that the amendments would need National Assembly approval and might be introduced within the second half this year. GGRAsia confirmed through the National Assembly’s online legislative system that up to the time this story went online, no such amendments had been submitted.
Kangwon Land Inc stated to GGRAsia that its own survey of 1,000 casino patrons indicated 20 percent would not return, if all patrons had to give – regardless of transaction size – their personal and financial information when at the casino.
Patron absence could reduce the property’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) by 19.64 percent, suggested Kangwon Land Inc. Additionally, the firm estimated that – even among patrons that remained – there could be a decline in per-head GGR, based on the friction created by extra compliance procedures.
Relative to the firm’s 2025 trading results, the planned new rules might cut the Kangwon Land property’s GGR by KRW330 billion, said a narrative accompanying the survey.
Local news outlets reported that community groups in the neighbourhood of Kangwon Land expect the casino’s annual Abandoned Mine Area Development Fund contributions – running typically at KRW180 billion – to drop to KRW130 billion, and certain dividends shared locally with the community, to drop by nearly 50 percent. The community groups are reportedly petitioning the KoFIU to drop its proposed AML-rule amendments.
