"Only Those Who Passed the Interview Ride"…The Van's Destination Was a Gambling Hall

Setting Up 'Tent Gambling Halls' at Over 10 Hills in Chungnam
Operated by Organized Crime, 50 Participants Including Middle-Aged Women
Recruiting Gamblers Nationwide and Conducting 'Interviews'

A group that set up 'tent gambling halls' while roaming the hills around Chungcheongnam-do and conducted billion-won scale 'mountain gambling' was caught by the police.

On the 2nd, the Violent Crime Investigation Unit of the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency arrested three of the six operators, including A (46), a member of an organized crime group in Dangjin, Chungnam, on charges of opening gambling halls and habitual gambling, and booked the remaining three without detention, Yonhap News reported on the same day. Fifty gamblers caught at the scene were also booked without detention.

A group that set up a tent gambling den in the hills around Chungnam and conducted mountain gambling involving hundreds of millions of won was caught by the police. The photo shows cash worth approximately 120 million won seized at the scene. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The police received a report from a family member of a gambling participant who said, "My wife has become addicted to gambling," and obtained intelligence that an organized crime group was operating gambling halls in the hills. They raided the site in Songsan-myeon, Dangjin, on the 25th of last month. By analyzing 50 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras around the hills where the gambling halls were expected to be set up over two months, they were able to identify the vehicles and the locations of the gambling halls.

The group operating the gambling halls opened tent gambling halls in about 10 hill locations in Dangjin, Yesan, Seosan, Asan, and other areas of Chungnam from the end of February until the 25th of last month. Approximately 120 million won in cash was seized at the scene. They conducted gambling games called 'Dorijitgo Ttaeng' (Seotda) 20 to 25 times per hour, with stakes ranging from 2 to 5 million won at the low end and several tens of millions of won at the high end per game.

The operators, who had senior-junior relationships, divided roles such as the general manager, munbang, and kkongji, and it was confirmed that they had previous convictions for gambling together. They took 10% of the stakes as an operating fee and used it for their group, holding gambling games almost daily.

To avoid crackdowns, they pre-selected about 10 remote hill locations during late-night hours and changed the locations daily by setting up tents at different places to hold gambling games. They recruited gamblers nationwide, notified participants of an intermediate location called 'Talsujang,' and only those who passed an interview were transported by van to the gambling halls.

Among the 56 people caught at the scene, 33 were middle-aged women in their 40s and 50s, and 42 were found to have prior gambling convictions.

The police plan to apply for pre-trial seizure (a system that prevents disposal of criminal proceeds and confiscates them upon conviction) for 60 million won of the approximately 120 million won in cash seized at the scene, which is the criminal proceeds of the organized crime members who led the opening and operation of the gambling halls.

Kim Kyunghwan, head of the Violent Crime Investigation Unit, said, "We are identifying and tracking four others who operated illegal gambling halls with A and his group," adding, "While pursuing the whereabouts of the general manager, we will conduct supplementary investigations into whether the organized crime group systematically operated gambling and the flow of gambling funds."

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