Supreme Court, Card Game with Acquaintance Involving "480,000 Won Pot"... "Not Gambling"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that playing card games with betting stakes of around 480,000 won among acquaintances cannot be punished as gambling. Even if the game was repeated at the same location, if the prize amount is not large and the participants are friends enjoying it briefly, it cannot be punished as gambling.

On the 18th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seonsu) announced that it upheld the lower court's acquittal in the appeal trial of Mr. A and others, who were prosecuted on gambling charges.

Mr. A was indicted on charges of card gambling with betting stakes of 485,000 won in an office in Jeungpyeong-gun, Chungbuk, in December 2018, along with three acquaintances.

Mr. A and others claimed it was merely casual entertainment, but the first trial sentenced all four to a fine of 2 million won each. The court stated, "From February to December 2018, there were multiple reports of gambling at the same location, and the total amount involved in this case was 485,000 won, which is not a small scale. The defendants' claim that it was only casual entertainment and thus lacks illegality is not accepted."

However, the second trial acquitted them. The court judged that since they were friends who had known each other since school days, the card game had the nature of temporary entertainment. Also, the confirmed game time was about 13 minutes, and all four had regular income, making it difficult to consider it abnormal habitual gambling.

One of them had previously received a suspended prosecution for gambling charges, but the other three had no prior criminal records for gambling, which was also taken into account.

The prosecutor appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, stating there was no error in the lower court's judgment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.