Gambling addicts to have cooling-off period

Kangwon Land to adopt ‘cooling-off’ period for gambling addicts

By Lee Kyung-min

Kangwon Land, the only casino that allows locals to gamble, is seeking to ban entry of suspected gambling addicts for up to three months, in an effort to minimize addiction.

The measure comes amid criticism that the casino operator gains huge profits at the cost of numerous societal evils including gambling addiction, bankruptcy, suicide and family dissolution.

During the government audit at the National Assembly, Tuesday, Kangwon Land CEO Ham Seung-huie said the company would introduce a “cooling-off” period as early as next year, as it has almost wrapped up discussions with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that governs the operator.

Currently, people are allowed to gamble at Kangwon Land for up to 15 days per month. Those who visit the place for 30 days in two consecutive months are considered suspected addicts and are banned from entry. But the ban is immediately lifted when such people attend a six-hour education program at the company-run anti-gambling center.

But under the new measure, those who gamble for 30 days over two consecutive months will be banned from entry for one month. If after that they repeat the frequency of visits, the ban will be for two months, and on the third time, three months.

Kangwon Land tracks frequent gamblers as visitors must obtain an admission card to access the casino by providing personal information including name, address and date of birth. The collected data is disposed of one year later.

The casino operator is also considering increasing its admission fee to 40,000 won ($36) from the current 9,000 won.

Ham also said he would review the suggestion by some lawmakers to reduce the permitted number of days per month for admission from the current 15 to eight.

Since opening in 1998, Kangwon Land has spent 9.2 billion won on anti-gambling rehabilitation efforts, accounting for a mere 0.0057 percent of its accumulated profits.

According to data by the Kangwon Land and National Gambling Control Commission (NGCC), a supervisory body under the Prime Minister’s Office, the company recorded 848 billion won in sales, with an operating profit of 338 billion won in the first quarter of this year.

Last year, 635,370 people visited the casino. Of them, 2,165 visited on more than 100 days a year, and 9,566, between 50 and 99 days.

Since 2012, police have received more than 1,500 complaints, or around 300 a year, in connection with the casino including fraud, theft, embezzlement, missing person reports and suicides, according to Rep. Cho Bae-sook of the People’s Party. A total of six people have committed suicide at the casino since 2011.