Was It Ultimately a Budget Issue...? Gambling Problem Management Regional Center Reduction 'Backtracking' by the Gambling Supervision Committee

High Addiction Prevention and Healing Effects
Budget Burden Cited as Reason for Reducing Sagamwi
Illegal Gambling Increasing, Lack of Public Interest... Repeated Criticism
Im O-kyung: "Removing Medical Staff at the Golden Time"

Shim Deok-seop, Chairman of the Integrated Supervision Commission for the Gambling Industry, is delivering a commemorative speech at the '12th Gambling Addiction Eradication Day Ceremony' held on the afternoon of the 17th at the Korea Center on Gambling Problems in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Korea Center on Gambling Problems

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the official gambling industry market, such as horse racing, has been shrinking, while the illegal gambling market is expanding as a balloon effect. However, there is criticism that the plan to downsize regional Gambling Problem Management Centers, which are responsible for gambling addiction prevention and treatment, is a 'counterproductive policy.' The Gambling Problem Management Centers use a portion of the revenue generated from horse racing and cycle racing, and the apparent reason for the downsizing is the reduction of this funding. ▶Refer to Asia Economy's September 15 report

According to the document titled 'Improvement Direction of Gambling Addiction Prevention and Treatment Service Delivery System' from the Integrated Supervisory Commission for Gambling Industry (ISCGI) under the Prime Minister's Office, obtained on the 18th through Im Oh-kyung, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the ISCGI plans to reduce the 13 currently operating Korea Gambling Problem Management Center (HanDoGwan) regional centers to 5 key centers, citing 'budget burden' as the main reason.

HanDoGwan is the frontline institution responsible for gambling addiction prevention and treatment, operated with the 'Addiction Prevention and Treatment Contribution Fee,' which is collected as 3.5% of the net sales from legal gambling industry operators such as Kangwon Land, horse racing, and cycle racing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the total net sales of the legal gambling industry decreased by about 39% in the first half of this year. Consequently, as the contribution fee is expected to fall to around 10 billion KRW, half of last year's amount, the ISCGI has taken the step of proposing the downsizing of regional centers.

The effectiveness of HanDoGwan regional centers in preventing and treating gambling addiction has been sufficiently proven over several years. The 'single gambling rate,' which refers to the percentage of individuals who do not gamble one year after completing regular counseling at HanDoGwan, increased from 28% in 2015 to 44% in 2018. Excluding survey non-respondents, the actual single gambling rate surged to 92.5%. Counseling performance also increased by 33.9% compared to 2015, with 74,129 cases recorded from August last year to July this year.

Considering these achievements, it seems difficult to avoid criticism that this measure lacks public interest amid the growing illegal gambling market. The illegal gambling market size is estimated to reach 81 trillion KRW this year. Lawmaker Im pointed out, "Reducing HanDoGwan's capacity due to decreased operator contribution fees is a dangerous idea, akin to removing medical staff during the golden hour." It is reported that Im will highlight this issue during the national audit.

All 13 HanDoGwan regional centers nationwide have also publicly criticized the ISCGI's measures. The HanDoGwan Entrusted Regional Centers Council (HanJiHyup) issued a public statement condemning, "The plan to close and downsize the 13 entrusted regional centers that have provided community-centered services for nearly 11 years is tantamount to stopping the provision of gambling addiction prevention and treatment services as a public good."

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