Online Gambling Prosecutions In Korea
Published: Friday, May 06, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
NOW IT'S KOREA
13 000 online gambling prosecutions and warnings
It looks as if the recent online gambling prosecutions in China and Taiwan are also being experienced in Korea, according to the Korea Times
The newspaper reports that police have caught picked up on 13,000 people who habitually visit overseas Internet gambling sites, including a diplomat and a national university professor. The report does not specify how the gamblers were found and busted.
Using credit cards, those caught spent an estimated 12 billion Won at some 50 gambling sites, according to police. Of the suspects, police requested arrest warrants for seven suspects on charges of habitual gambling, while 26 others, including a diplomat, identified as Kim, 41, were booked but not physically detained.
One accused, a diplomat, is suspected of using credit cards 122 times, racking up 30 million Won in total payments. In another case, a 62 year old national university professor, used his plastic cards 382 times to pay for his 26 million Won worth of wagering on unspecified Internet gambling sites. And a 49-year-old *unemployed* man, squandered more than 100 million Won.
Suspects used various means to camouflage their activity. One 32 year old woman illegally used her sister's name and credit card number to wager 100 million Won, forcing her sibling to be listed as a credit delinquent, police said.
"The suspects range in age from around 30 to 70. We have selected people who spent more than 25 million Won or paid more than 100 times, to face criminal charges," police said.
Official sources estimate a total of 100 billion Won had gone offshore due to gambling, 25 billion Won of it online . Police have asked the Ministry of Information and Communication to block the detected sites.
"We are seeing a rising number of cases where South Koreans register at overseas gambling sites under a foreigner's name. It's hard to control gambling sites registered abroad," police said.
