A South Korean company has confirmed to GGRAsia that it has supplied forms of radio-frequency identification (RFID) casino currency to Kangwon Land Inc, operator of Kangwon Land, the only resort in that country with a casino permitted to serve locals.
A representative of the technology company – Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp (KOSCOM) – affirmed its role as a merchant to Kangwon Land, in an emailed reply to an enquiry from GGRAsia. It stated that its chips – which incorporate RFID tags – were now in use at the property.
The supplier added that it was part of a programme from October last year, to modernise the betting currency used at Kangwon Land, a property in a remote upland district 150 kilometres (93 miles) outside the capital Seoul.
Kangwon Land resort is currently undergoing a major reinvestment and upgrade programme, including the building of a second casino venue at the site, the latter with a targeted 2027 completion date.
Examples of its new chips (pictured) were shown at an event called the Counterfeit Prevention Technology Conference 2025, held recently in Seoul.
The casino currency is said to use also “anti-counterfeiting technologies,” including “photonic crystal films, and fluorescent multiplexing”.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Kangwon Land Inc and KOSCOM dates back to May 2023. Under it, chips ranging in face value from KRW1 million (US$733), KRW100,000, KRW10,000 and KRW5,000, were to be replaced.
Some of the chips that had been in use at Kangwon Land dated back to 2003, according to Kangwon Land Inc’s 2023 MOU.
A KOSCOM representative told GGRAsia that the company outsourced the new chips’ insulation – the portion of the chip that prevents unauthorised reading of its RFID tag data – from a foreign manufacturer; and the decal and security materials from domestic manufacturers.
KOSCOM also supplied casino chips in 2019 to Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd, a company that runs three foreigner-only casinos in South Korea.
