South Korea Addicted to 'Cyber Gambling'... 3,155 Arrested in 8-Month Special Crackdown

The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 15th that a total of 3,155 people were arrested and 124 of them were detained through the 'Cyber Gambling Crackdown,' conducted as part of the 'Four Major Malicious Cybercrime Intensive Crackdown' from March 1 to October 31, an eight-month period. During the intensive crackdown, police mobilized cyber investigators nationwide to arrest 476 suppliers involved in creating, operating, and advertising gambling sites, and 2,679 demand-side individuals engaged in gambling activities.

원본보기 아이콘

By crime type, betting on Powerball games, casual games (pinball, ladder, snail games), and stock, foreign exchange, and futures product betting using private Home Trading Systems (HTS) accounted for the largest share at 42.1%. This was followed by illegal sports toto (34.6%), illegal horse racing, cycling, and motorboat racing (12.0%), and illegal casinos (11.2%).

Regarding the age groups of suspects, those in their 20s accounted for the largest portion at 28.8%, followed by those in their 30s (28.3%), 40s (18.5%), 50s (14%), 60 and older (7.2%), and teenagers (3.2%). By occupation, 58.7% were unemployed or had no specific occupation, 19.4% were in service jobs, 13.6% in office jobs, 3.8% professionals, 3.7% students, and 0.8% public officials or military personnel.

The police confiscated or preserved 30.57 billion KRW in criminal proceeds earned from gambling by the arrested suspects either on-site or before prosecution, and notified the National Tax Service to collect taxes on the illicit earnings from the accounts used for gambling.

Additionally, to prevent the spread of online gambling among youth, from September 25 for 47 days, the police conducted a nationwide crackdown led by cybercrime investigation units of city and provincial police agencies targeting gambling sites using illegal webtoons, OTT platforms, and other youth-enticing elements. Through this, 353 people were arrested and 8 detained. Among them, 314 adults are subject to criminal punishment, while 39 youths mostly gambled less than 500,000 KRW; for cases where investigations were completed, summary trials were requested.

The main routes through which youths were lured into gambling were friends or acquaintances at 67.6%, online gambling advertisements at 18.9%, and financial greed or curiosity at 13.5%. The types of gambling youths mainly engaged in were illegal casinos such as baccarat at 62.2%, sports betting at 21.6%, casual games at 13.5%, and slot games at 2.7%. The average amount youths gambled was about 1.25 million KRW, ranging from as little as 7,000 KRW to as much as 32.27 million KRW.

A police official stated, “With the advancement of information and communication technology, anonymity has been further strengthened, making access to gambling sites easier. As even youths participate in cyber gambling, enabling the acquisition of large criminal proceeds, the scale of those involved in operating gambling sites is growing and roles are becoming specialized. It is important to design and implement active and systematic preventive education for youths who easily join in despite recognizing it as a harmful peer culture.”

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.