Jeju proposes three-month suspension for Gold Mountain Casino over cheating allegations

Gold Mountain Casino, which only admits foreign nationals, is based in Jeju, South Korea. According to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Government, the venue may be barred from offering gaming for a quarter of a year within a matter of days. The provincial body told GGRAsia that this step stems from a probe into claims of dealer misconduct at blackjack tables. Before any ruling is made, the operator retains the right to argue against the proposed penalty, and officials are studying its submissions.

Three players from China are said to have been defrauded of roughly KRW100 million by casino workers at blackjack tables on June 7 and 8. At the exchange rate used in the report, that sum came to US$75,531. Earlier coverage had put the claimed losses at KRW80 million. The provincial authority's information indicates that the matter being examined as a regulatory breach concerns gaming equipment that had been tampered with.

According to a Jeju official, a three-month operational halt is the standard administrative sanction attached to this infringement, though the penalty may be trimmed where mitigating grounds are accepted. That same official noted that, for an initial violation of this type, the province has no power to impose a longer suspension than three months. Should the operator commit a further regulatory breach, its licence could be withdrawn.

The provincial official told GGRAsia that the matter had been passed to prosecutors in Jeju on September 11, and that those prosecutors are running a separate inquiry. In the official's account, the administrative penalty would stand apart from whatever the criminal probe concludes and from any court decision that follows. Nor would the proposed suspension have to wait for the prosecutors to finish their work.

Gold Mountain Casino previously operated as Megaluck Casino under Hong Kong-listed New Silkroad Culturaltainment Ltd. The operation was sold to local company Geumsan Co Ltd in 2024, according to industry official data issued in May by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which holds overall responsibility for the country's casino sector. Jeju has exercised certain elements of regulatory control over the island's foreigner-only casino industry since 2009, and the provincial government has licensing oversight of the island's local casinos.