5-Star Hotels Get Tourist-Only Casinos

Tourist-only casinos that only admit non-Korean passport holders will be allowed in all five-star hotels starting as early as July, according to a government law revision Tuesday.

The administration approved a revision to the Tourism Promotion Act, relaxing its regulations on the tourist-only casino industry during a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan at the Central Government Complex yesterday.

The Tourism Promotion Act had previously only allowed tourist-only casinos in international airports and five-star hotels located in cities and provinces with international air transport terminals. The revised bill will allow the establishment of the casinos in five-star hotels in all cities and provinces, and international conference facilities.

A government official explained that the regulations are being relaxed to give a boost to the tourism industry and give cities and provinces equal access to the tourist-only casino industry, and that the number of casinos will not increase substantially because the number of potential non-Korean passport-holding casino clients (around 300,000) will be analyzed before a casino license is granted.

During the cabinet meeting, a revision to the Online and Correspondence High School Standards Act was also passed, abolishing the mandatory assessment system that online and correspondence high school graduates are subject to in order to receive high school graduation credit.