North Korea Considers Plans For Adding Casino To Country's Tallest BuildingProject Could Bring Country’s Third Gambling Property |
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When it comes to casino getaways, many gamblers may think of heading off to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macau, or Monte Carlo. But North Korea? The country’s communist regime apparently believes they might be a nice addition to the world’s list of gambling meccas.
News emerged this week that the country’s leadership is considering allowing a casino for a potential developer that would finish out the 105-floor Ryugyong Hotel, which has sat vacant in the capital of Pyongyang for 37 years.
“A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed,” a Pyongyang source told Radio Free Asia. “The plan is to try to attract foreign investment.”
Empty Hotel
Construction began on the hotel in 1987 with a plan for an official opening in 1992. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, funding for the project eventually dried up. The property’s exterior was completed in 2011 with plans to open a hotel, but the interior remains unfinished.
The tower, which is by far the tallest in the country, now sits unused in the middle of the capital city almost four decades later, although there are some video screens attached to the exterior and projectors that show daily propaganda messages.
The country’s leader Kim Jong Un has been pushing to bring in more tourist revenue and apparently sees casinos as a way to do that as well as finish the hotel.
“The authority to determine the location of the casino to be installed at the hotel and the right to operate the casino will be granted to a foreign entrepreneur who invests in the cost of internal construction,” the course told RFA. “This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
Only foreigners are allowed to gamble in the country. It seems unlikely most North Koreans could actually gamble or stay at such a facility even if they wanted to. According to one study, as much as 60% of the country lives in poverty and movement for the country’s citizens is extremely restricted.
There is also another casino in the Bipa Hotel in the Rason Special Economic Zone.
The regime views the casinos as a way to draw in foreign currency with visitors mostly coming from China. Sheldon Adelson, the late CEO of Las Vegas Sands, expressed interest in 2018 in building a casino in the country.
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