By Kim Da-ye
JEONGSEON, Gangwon Province — On a Tuesday afternoon, more than 3,500 people fill Kangwon Land’s casino — nearly twice as many as the total number of the seats available.
With almost every seat on the 112 tables taken and the 960 slot machines occupied, some tables become exceptionally crowded. There are blackjack and baccarat tables on which people can place a maximum bet of 300,000 won — the largest amount one can bet here apart from in the VIP rooms.
The crowds standing behind the seats aren’t here to just observe the game.
One middle-aged woman with a typical short curly perm wearing silver Bvlgari frames adorned with fake diamonds on the sides, stands behind a player on a blackjack table and takes a bundle of 50,000-won notes from her waist bag.
She buys a stack of yellow chips worth 100,000 won each from the dealer. As the game begins and players place their chips on the boxes, she puts her chips in a box and gives one to a man standing next to her. He lays the chip on another box with the help of the player sitting in front of him, saying, “It’s from the woman.”
The player wins, and the man standing behind the player takes two chips and passes them to the woman. The woman and the man clearly do not know each other.
It’s a confusing scene for first-time visitors to Kangwon Land. The casino does not have enough seats, so many end up “playing behind.”
The casino allows two maximum bets per box equivalent to chips worth up to 600,000 won. The players on the seats usually make the first maximum bet, and the rest are put together by the people standing behind.
In blackjack, players are initially dealt two cards and are able to stay with them or get another card. The goal is to have the sum of the numbers on a hand of cards beat the dealer’s but not exceed 21.
The players on the seat called “handies,” in theory, have full control of the bet in the box — they decide whether to “hit” or “stand.” Those standing behind rely on the decision by the controlling players and aren’t obliged to pay them any commission when the bets are won.
For those betting behind, the joy of playing a game does not matter. They do not seek games, only pure gambling.
In such an environment, ordinary tourists cannot play games. Because of the lack of seats, they are booked in advance. Even if newcomers find seats, they will face great pressure to leave because the games run too quickly and the other players would bully them.
In Kangwon Land, unspoken rules govern the tables. Under the so-called “Kanglan” rules, players on a blackjack table should work as a team against the dealer.
If a player does not follow the “rules” and, as a result, the dealer gets a card that makes him or her win, the player will likely face fierce resentment from the rest of the table and those playing behind. Spats between players aren’t unusual there.
On the blackjack tables, players rarely ask for a hit — or take another card — and when a dealer loses because of their cooperation under the Kanglan rules, they shout, “That’s it!” together.
At the end of the day, Kangwon Land uses machines that shuffle multiple decks of cards, making it difficult for gamblers to win by following formulas or by counting cards to make better guesses.
For the newcomers, slot machines are among few choices left, but even these are fully occupied. There are empty seats, but the machines still have credit, meaning their players have gone to a break — people must smoke in dedicated rooms and free soft drinks and tea are available at the center of the hall.
To help people identify free machines, the casino operator puts transparent bars on the top that are lit green when the machines are not in use.
Once players take a seat, they do not leave quickly and some hold bundles of 50,000-won and 10,000-won notes in their hands. The credits shown on the screen usually amount to several thousands — each credit is worth between 10 and 500 won.
Kangwon Land is a lonely place for the tourists who thought gambling is for fun.