A man was found dead in a casino hotel room in the eastern Gangwon Province Saturday in an apparent suicide, Chosun Ilbo reported.
Around 12:30 p.m. Friday, an employee of the Gangwonland Casino Main Hotel entered the room after the man overstayed the checkout time. The employee found the man hung dead in a closet and subsequently called the police.
The 37-year-old man, who was identified only by his last name Kwon, is a resident of Ansan City in Gyeonggi Province, and has been visiting the casino facility some 370 times since 2003, according to the police, which are conducting further investigation on the cause of his death.
The Gangwonland casino facility opened in October 2000 as a special zone that allows Koreans to play gambling in an apparent drive to boost the local economy. So far, some 25 people have committed suicide due to gambling-related indebtedness.