Formally known as the Emperor Hotel & Casino and owned by the Emperor Group in Hong Kong, it has since been acquired by a new unknown owner in 2012. The Imperial Hotel & Casino is located in Rason – the Special Economic Zone of North Korea and was one of the first fully owned foreign busines to make an impact in the country.
The Imperial Hotel and Casino – The best in North Korea?
The subject of what is the best hotel in North Korea does, as with any topic, elicit various opinions. However, in our opinion the highest quality hotel in the DPRK is also the hotel that was previously fully foreign-owned – and most people have never even heard of it.
The Imperial Hotel & Casino first opened its doors to Chinese & Russian gamblers in 2000. It is by far the standout highlight of Rason city. The city is the only place in North Korea that is visa-free, and technically has a mixed economy that welcomes foreign investment.
The casino has not been without a fair bit of controversy and has allegedly been closed on more than one occasion, such as on the occasion that a Chinese politician gambled away his city’s finances. There’s also a lot of anecdotal stories about gambling debts and gangsters that you would not expect from such a rigidly communist country.
As for the Imperial Hotel itself, it’s an impressive hotel to say the least with deluxe rooms costing less than $150USD a night, a fantastic buffet restaurant and cafe, nightly Moranbang Band type performances, a private beach, swimming pools, and massage facilities.
Can you gamble in North Korea?
However, the main attraction of the Emperor Hotel for tourists isn’t the large swimming pools, the fine dining or the luxury rooms. It’s gambling. It is also possible to gamble at the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang, however, gambling at the Imperial is serious business with minimum bets starting at $500 USD. You won’t be allowed entry into the casino area without it.
Our Rason or North East group tours don’t stay at the Imperial Hotel but we arrange a tour of the hotel, beach and a quick break for a very good cup of coffee or beer. For those who really want to experience the Imperial Hotel & Casino we can arrange your independent tour stay at the hotel.
The Imperial Hotel and Casino in 2025
In 2025, during our first trip to North Korea in five years, we finally got the chance to visit the Imperial Casino in Rason. The place, once a buzzing center of foreign activity, now feels like a relic of a different time. The casino was shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic, and since then, it has remained abandoned. The closure wasn’t just a setback in business; it symbolized the broader isolation North Korea endured as global restrictions took hold.
Standing there, it was eerie to witness the faded grandeur of what had once been a destination for foreign tourists and high-rollers. The building itself is still intact, but everything inside feels frozen in time—like the Imperial Hotel, it’s as if the world simply stopped moving.
There’s no definitive word on when, or if, it will ever open again. As we walked through its empty halls, we couldn’t help but wonder if the Imperial Casino would ever return to its former glory. With Rason’s future uncertain, it remains to be seen whether the once-thriving casino will re-emerge or continue to gather dust as just another casualty of the pandemic.
This would be done as a test the water type scenario to see if the country is ready for tourism. And when it is, we will be there on a Rason Tour.
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