South Korea is an innovative and digitally efficient society. Residents of all generations rely heavily on their smartphones to make financial transactions, and KakaoPay and Toss Pay are the most regularly used fintechs in the country.
Online gambling is increasing in popularity, and players are looking for sites that they can trust and access with ease. The ones that allow familiar methods of making deposits and withdrawals (like KakaoPay, Toss Pay, and cryptocurrencies) are the ones that will attract and, more importantly, retain players.
When a player already trusts a local fintech, being able to use that same system allows for a safe, confident gaming experience.
Everyday Convenience Meets Online Gaming
Digital wallets are the most popular payment method in South Korea, as many people are moving away from traditional banking methods in favor of fintechs. The primary reason is that Korea is a digital-forward nation, and the fintechs are doing what the banks can do—only faster, better, and more affordably. KakaoPay and Toss Pay are the two market leaders.
KakaoTalk and KakaoPay
KakaoTalk is Korea’s leading online messaging app, with 97% market share. Some of the features of KakaoTalk are instant and group messaging and free voice calls. With its add-on feature KakaoTalkID, users can find friends via their phone numbers. Plus Friend, meanwhile, is a channel exclusive for brands and celebrities to engage with the community. And KakaoPay is a mobile payment and digital wallet integrated into KakaoTalk.
The latter allows Koreans to make payments via QR codes and transfer money—even across borders. It has features like creating recurring payments and a rewards system. Some online casinos are beginning to accept KakaoPay as an option for depositing and withdrawing funds, making the concept of a KakaoPay casino increasingly popular among local players.
The beauty of using KakaoPay to deposit to an online casino is that it’s a fast, streamlined process. All the player needs to do is choose KakaoPay at the cashier page. If they’re playing on an app on their phone, they’ll be automatically directed to the KakaoPay app to approve the transaction. If playing on a website on a computer, they’ll be provided with a QR code to then scan via the app. The funds are immediately available to play.
Toss Pay
Toss Pay has been a popular fintech in Korea for the past 10 years. With 22 million users, Toss payments in Korea are the leading way locals make financial transactions. It’s not a bank; it doesn’t hold people’s funds. Instead, it links to other South Korean banks’ accounts and cards. It has over 40 services, including money transfers, investments, loans, credit score viewing, stock trading, and some online gambling sites accept it as a deposit method.
Using Toss Pay to deposit to an online casino is straightforward. It works similarly to KakaoPay but has an additional verification step where the player is asked to enter their phone number and date of birth. This second step of verification is a South Korean government payment regulation. With Toss Pay, the funds are available within minutes.
How Familiar Payment Options Build Player Trust
Trust is often tied to familiarity. For South Korean online gamblers, the ability to deposit and withdraw via local trusted fintechs like Toss Pay and KakaoPay is a huge incentive.
For many players, choosing a Korean payment method casino means being able to deposit and withdraw funds through the same fintech apps they already trust for daily purchases. South Koreans who regularly make online purchases via these fintechs are more likely to trust them as they don’t have to enter sensitive details like their credit card number directly on a gaming site. They’ve more than likely already been verified by KakaoPay or Toss Pay, so utilizing either of these to deposit to an online casino skips the need for additional financial verification. Withdrawals, on the other hand, need to comply with the site’s regulations, so additional verification may be needed for that purpose, even with the winnings coming back to either of the South Korean fintechs.
Another advantage of utilizing these fintechs online (for any form of purchase) is that they provide strong mobile verification and fraud protection, boosting confidence among Korean gamblers. The convenience and familiarity of using KakaoPay or Toss Pay to deposit to their preferred online site are major factors in whether players stick around or move to another one.
Familiarity as a Retention Strategy
Gambling in South Korea is an emerging industry, but it’s still a rather grey area. There is only one land-based casino—Kangwon Land—that Koreans can gamble at, and it’s government-operated and located in Jeongseon-gun. Online gambling is currently illegal, meaning no local operators can have a presence, but locals can play at offshore online casinos as these aren’t covered by any of South Korea’s laws.
While these online casinos actively seek out Korean players, you might be wondering how they can achieve it? For starters, many OnlineCasino.co.kr expert-reviewed casinos prioritize payment familiarity as a retention strategy, and this is a savvy idea. A casino that offers Korean payment methods like KakaoPay and Toss Pay immediately gains an advantage over operators that don’t.
Korean payment methods casinos attract new players by implementing localized deposit systems from Asian countries, allowing seamless payments across borders and familiar fintech experiences. This strong connection between familiarity and security forms the foundation of player retention trust that Korean operators seek to build.
The Rise of Crypto and Hybrid Gateways
Few outside the region realize that South Korea, behind only the USA, is the second-largest trader of cryptocurrencies in the world. In the first half of 2025, the country registered $642 billion worth of trades. Around one-third of adults in South Korea own cryptocurrency assets. Bitcoin is the most traded, along with Ethereum, Ripple, and KRW-backed stablecoin Klaytn. This level of trade suggests that the uptake in cryptocurrency use is an extension of South Korea’s people’s active, digitally forward mindset.
This surge in digital asset use has also fueled growth in the crypto casino Korea market, as players look for sites that accept blockchain-based payments. Online casinos that accept deposits via cryptocurrency wallets are gaining in popularity, and the South Korean player market is an enticing one for many. As a result, casinos that accept KakaoPay, Toss Pay, and crypto wallets will be the ones that South Koreans will favor over the others. Ultimately, platforms that don’t support them risk losing ground in Korea’s fast-evolving iGaming scene.
Looking Ahead
South Korea’s 2024 online gambling market had an estimated value of $9 billion. That’s a lot of money to be shared around, and the offshore sites that consider what South Koreans want will get the lion’s share of this amount. Payment systems will continue to define player loyalty and trust across the iGaming industry.
The most popular way South Koreans deposit to gambling sites is via digital wallets, especially KakaoPay and Toss Pay. The second most popular way is by credit card. In the future, it’s expected that digital wallets will increase in popularity, as will crypto wallets. Players are already moving away from using debit cards and prepaid vouchers as they require additional steps to process and bank transfers, and the funds aren’t immediately available.
Any online casino that heavily promotes the acceptance of KakaoPay, Toss Pay, and cryptocurrency wallets is the one that will attract greater visibility among South Korean players. It then remains the operator’s responsibility to ensure they provide a superior gaming experience in an effort to encourage player retention.
