Casinos in North Korea

The very fact that there are any North Korea casinos will probably come as something of a surprise to most people. The Hermit Kingdom, as it is sometimes known (this is actually a much older name for the whole of Korea, now usually applied only to the North), is the last Stalinist dictatorship left on the planet. The regime is so restrictive that mobile phones are not allowed at all. When they were handed out to regional officials, they were then confiscated again as they had become an alternative method of communication, outside the State structures.

Even the radios are permanently soldered to receive only the State radio channels, so that no one ever gets tempted to listen to South Korean stations. North Korea really is the most oppressive country currently extant. Another claim to fame is that it is the first hereditary Communist dictatorship, something that not all that many old style Communists would actually think was a good idea. What with all that repression (yes, they have an extensive network of gulags, work camps for those who have displeased the leadership) and the pure idiocy of their economic system (they cannot actually feed their own population), it would be something of a surprise to find any North Korea casinos at all.

However, no one should underestimate the capacity of this country to surprise. There are indeed North Korea casinos, two of them apparently. The first of North Korea’s casinos is in Pyongyang, the capital. The Pyongyang Casino, which is located inside the Yanggakdo Hotel and is owned by Macau’s casino mogul, Dr Stanley Ho.

Yanggakdo Hotel

As North Koreans are not allowed to enter it and the number of businessman and tourists to the country each year is only a few thousand, one wonders if it is viable indeed. It caters mainly for those very few diplomats and 200 plus foreign businessmen who are posted there, but that still would be a small clientèle.

One story goes that the Pyongyang Casino is a bizarre little place, a single room with a handful of mah-jong and craps tables, as well as a bevvy of bored Chinese croupiers outnumbering gamblers ten to one. Technically, the Casino doesn’t really exist, and the DPRK government puts up with it because it is such a handy source of hard currency. Increasingly, DPRK is being sold to wealthy Chinese as a gambling destination. The staff are all Chinese, and are not permitted to leave Yanggakdo Island. No wonder they look bored.

The second of North Korea’s casinos is the Emperor Hotel and Casino in Rajin with sixteen tables and 52 slot machines. More details are on the Emperor Casino Website we did try a hotel booking, and the operator did indeed confirm that the casino is operational and located in Rajin-Songbong, a free trade area that North Korea is trying to establish on the border with China.

Emperor Hotel & Casino

It was set up to cater to the cross-border trade from China: all forms of gambling in China being illegal until very recently. No North Koreans, other than the staff, were allowed into the complex at all (and they wouldn’t have the money to play there anyway). When the Chinese found that government officials were embezzling money and then losing it at the casino, they closed the border to gamblers.
So the question of whether or not there are actually any functioning North Korea casinos is unanswered. There might be one in the capital and there’s definitely an empty unused one on the Chinese border, but beyond that, no one really knows.

Casino Pyongyang
Yanggakdo Hotel
Yanggak Island
Pyongyang, Pyongyang-si
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Tel: +850 2 181 112134
Fax: +850 2 381 29301
Games
Gaming Tables x 8
Emperor Hotel & Casino
Rajin-Songbongn
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Website | Emperor Casino
Games
Gaming Tables x 16
Slot Machines x 52

Originally posted 2007-04-17 15:21:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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