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Nineteen individuals, including the operators who managed an illegal gambling site with a scale of 15.5 billion KRW and established illegal adult gaming centers nationwide to earn profits, have been handed over to the prosecution.
The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency announced today (21st) that they have detained and sent three people, including the main suspect, a man in his 50s identified as A, on charges of organizing gambling spaces.
The police also sent 16 others, including gaming center operators and financial account suppliers, without detention on similar charges.
A and others are accused of operating an illegal gambling site from June 2022 to July last year, which had over 1,300 members and gambling deposits totaling 15.5 billion KRW.
A reportedly commissioned the development of an illegal online gambling site, offering games like ‘slot’ and ‘baccarat.’
Concurrently, he set up offline gaming centers based on the site in nine locations, including Pyeongtaek and Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, Yeongjongdo in Incheon, Dangjin in Chungnam, and Wonju in Gangwon.
It has been investigated that A lent the initial setup costs to acquaintances and made them act as managers, while he pocketed most of the operational profits.
If profits were not realized, A would summon the gaming center operators to a head office established in newly built officetels or apartments, where he would verbally abuse them and provide training.
After gathering relevant intelligence, the police began their investigation and detained A in December last year.
Up until this month, they have handed over a total of 19 individuals to the prosecution, including six from the head office management, 11 operators of the nine gaming centers, and two financial account suppliers.
A reportedly used the criminal proceeds for living expenses or to establish additional gaming centers.
The police stated that they plan to accurately estimate the criminal proceeds of A and others and proceed with the recovery process.
A police officer said, “This case differs from typical crimes of the same nature in that the main suspect not only prepared the illegal gambling site himself but also exploited the gaming center operators nationwide while taking most of the profits.”
They added, “As users of gambling sites are also subject to criminal penalties, if gambling addiction is suspected, please contact the Korea Center on Gambling Problems (dial 1336 without the area code) for assistance.”
(Photo provided by the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency, Yonhap News)