Historic Bust of Illegal Gambling Site Operators Involving Approximately 900 Billion KRW

Busan Police Agency Arrests 55 Operators and Users

Real Estate Speculation Revealed from Gambling Profits

Cash seized from the operator of an illegal sports gambling site. [Image source=Busan Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A large group of 55 people, including a gang that operated an unprecedented illegal sports gambling site worth 900 billion KRW and its users, have been arrested.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency (Chief Jin Jeong-mu) announced on the 28th that they arrested 38 members of a gang suspected of operating illegal sports gambling sites ‘S’ and ‘V’, worth 900 billion KRW, by running domestic offices while having servers overseas in Vietnam and China. Among them, 17 people including B (in his 30s), the domestic head of ‘S’ gambling, and C (in his 40s), the operator of ‘V’ gambling, were detained, and the remaining 21 were booked without detention.

Additionally, A (in his 40s), the operator of ‘S’ gambling who is currently fleeing overseas, has been placed on Interpol’s red notice, and 17 users of the gambling sites have also been criminally charged.

During the arrests, cash and valuables worth approximately 1.98 billion KRW were seized, and through financial tracking, assets including real estate and vehicles owned by the operators worth about 6.14 billion KRW were frozen, resulting in the recovery of criminal proceeds totaling approximately 8.12 billion KRW.

The main perpetrators, operator A (red notice) and domestic head B (detained), are suspected of operating the ‘S’ gambling site worth about 800 billion KRW targeting approximately 3,300 members since March 2016. They set up a gambling server in Vietnam and established a domestic office, managing employees in an organized manner through teams such as ‘Member Management Team’, ‘Charge and Exchange Team’, ‘Bulletin Board Management Team’, ‘Domestic Distributor Team’, and ‘Withdrawal Team’.

In this process, C (detained), the operator of ‘V’ gambling, is also suspected of operating the ‘V’ gambling site worth about 100 billion KRW targeting approximately 1,800 members from June 2018 to March 2020 at a domestic office. He received the gambling site from the main operator A and was provided with operational know-how and remittance services for gambling money deposits and withdrawals.

After receiving intelligence on these gambling sites, the police conducted internet tracking and carried out multiple raids on gambling offices and operators’ residences in the Gyeonggi-do area from June last year to recently, arresting 38 members of the operation one by one.

During the raids on offices and residences, the police seized cash in 50,000 KRW bills amounting to approximately 1.95 billion KRW, luxury watches worth about 30 million KRW, and other valuables totaling about 1.98 billion KRW on site.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency’s specialized crime proceeds tracking investigation team was also deployed and applied to the court for pre-indictment seizure preservation on hidden assets worth approximately 6.14 billion KRW (including 3 apartments worth 5.7 billion KRW, 2 houses worth 300 million KRW, and 10 luxury vehicles worth 140 million KRW), freezing these assets.

Furthermore, through on-site seizures and pre-indictment seizure preservation, a total of approximately 8.12 billion KRW of criminal proceeds were recovered.

Notably, most of the frozen hidden assets of the operators are apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area. The gang focused on purchasing apartments in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do with the illegal gambling site profits they earned.

After purchase, the apartment prices nearly doubled, meaning they made money from illegal gambling and earned huge profits through real estate speculation.

The police regard this as a serious case where illegal gambling funds have extended into real estate speculation and have requested a tax investigation into the source of funds of the property owners and the overall illegal profits from the gambling sites.

The police have issued a red notice for the main operator A, who is currently fleeing in Vietnam, and are conducting additional investigations into gambling site users, having criminally charged 17 people so far and conducting summons investigations.

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