Korean Internet Gambling Continues To Grow

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Though the Korean Internet Safety Commission has tried to restrict public access to foreign-based Korean-language gambling sites, the numbers are still rising

The number of Internet gambling sites, which target Koreans but operate their servers overseas in order to avoid the grip of domestic laws, is on the increase at a breakneck pace, says the Korea Times in an article this week.

Officials at the Korea Internet Safety Commission told reporters that the body had asked the country's Internet service providers to block access to 549 foreign-based Korean-language gambling sites in March alone.

The figure stood at merely 96 in December 2004 but doubled every year to 170 in December 2005 and 342 last December. This year, the number was 395 in January and 493 in February.

"Illegal gambling sites based on foreign havens began to sprout up en masse late last year when an offline gambling scandal erupted,” an official at the state-backed commission said. "We will continue to make efforts to block illegal gambling sites, which lure Korean people, in collaboration with local Internet firms," he said.

The gambling scandal caught the country by surprise last December when prosecutors indicted two businessmen who produced and distributed "Bada Iyagi"(Sea Story) video slot machines. Most of the machines were illegally reprogrammed to give voucher payouts that were higher than the legal limit, thus creating a flurry of casinos tucked into every spare sliver of real estate.

When the prosecution began to probe the scandal, many Koreans had already fallen victim to the machines, which had by then sold more than 45,000 units, and this prompted a broad crackdown on unlawful gambling including online sites.

Some online site operators attempted to sidestep the clampdown by transferring servers to foreign countries such as the United States or Canada, where the arm of Korean law cannot reach.