Are offshore casinos legal where you live? What a licence covers, set against official texts and Korean statutes

2026-10-13

If an offshore baccarat site shows a Malta or Curaçao licence at the bottom of the page, does that make it fine to play from home?

Search this topic on YouTube and videos saying offshore sites are legal sit next to news reports saying a foreign licence does not make playing from Korea legal. We added no legal interpretation. We set out what the issuing side has published and the original wording of Korean statutes, and answered four questions.

1.Who does an offshore licence bind?

A licence is permission a regulator in one country or territory gives an operating company. It creates a promise between that company and that regulator to follow the regulator's rules.

The law of the country where the player lives sits outside that promise. The UK is one place that has written this into law.

In a 15 May 2014 announcement, the UK government said remote gambling by consumers in Britain is regulated on a point of consumption basis. Operators selling into the British market, whether based in Britain or abroad, must hold a Gambling Commission licence (UK government announcement).

Which country's rules apply depends on where the player is, more than where the company is. The UK wrote its law that way.

2.If a site offers your currency and language, has it been allowed to take your country?

When a site shows Korean on screen and a balance in won, it can look like permission to take Korean players. Currency and language are display settings the site chose. They are not a decision by the regulator that issued the licence.

The clause may also be titled Prohibited Jurisdictions.

Restricted territories: countries an operator's terms say it does not accept players from.

Start with the terms.

Find the restricted territories list and check whether your country of residence is on it. If it is, you are not eligible to play even by that site's own terms.

Near the same clause, read whether anything covers hiding or changing your location when you connect. Such clauses can be used to block an account at the withdrawal stage, so check them before depositing.

The reasons sites give when a withdrawal stops, checked against UK regulatory documents, are in our baccarat site withdrawal post.

Next comes the law where you live. For players in Korea, the Criminal Act on the government law portal reads as follows (our translation).

• Article 2: (Domestic crimes) This Act applies to both Korean nationals and foreigners who commit crimes within the territory of the Republic of Korea.
• Article 3: (Crimes by Korean nationals abroad) This Act applies to Korean nationals who commit crimes outside the territory of the Republic of Korea.
• Article 246(1): A person who gambles shall be punished by a fine of up to 10 million won, except where it is no more than temporary amusement.
• Article 246(2): A person who habitually commits the crime in paragraph 1 shall be punished by up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won.

The articles say nothing about treating a case differently by which country licensed the site. Article 3 applies the Act to Korean nationals for acts outside Korea as well. The original is on the Korean law portal, Criminal Act article 3.

There is one more article for the operating side. Article 247 sets up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won for a person who opens a place or space for gambling for profit.

This post does not go into how individual cases are decided. The statute gives no figure for where "temporary amusement" ends, and a specific situation is a matter for a lawyer.

Checking an offshore licence and checking whether domestic law applies are two separate checks. How to look up a licence number in a public register is near the end of our how to choose a baccarat site post.

3.Is baccarat at a land casino on a trip abroad any different?

"Overseas casino illegal criteria" is the top Korean autocomplete for this topic on Google, so it is a question many people ask.

Article 3 above does not split places into online and offline. It only says outside the territory. Whether casinos are legal in the country visited is not a condition the article mentions.

4.Are there casinos in Korea that Korean nationals can enter?

Article 28(1) of the Tourism Promotion Act lists what casino operators must not do. Item 4 is admitting Korean nationals, except emigrants under article 2 of the Emigration Act (Korean law portal, Tourism Promotion Act).

Item 8 of the same paragraph is admitting anyone under 19. Entry by Korean nationals is open only as an exception at the place set by the Special Act on Assistance to the Development of Abandoned Mine Areas.

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