Nine-year-old among suspects busted in youth gambling crackdown

An illegal online gambling site is seen on a screen of a computer. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The Korean National Police Agency said Thursday that teenagers accounted for one-third of the 2,925 online gambler suspects swept up in a recent dragnet.

The agency’s National Office of Investigation conducted a special crackdown on online gambling targeting adolescents from Sept. 25 last year to March 31.

Police formally arrested and detained 75 adults for reaping 61.9 billion won ($45 million) in profits. Of those nabbed, 1,035 were teenagers, nearly all for gambling.

This means one out of three alleged gamblers caught were teenagers.

Twelve teenagers were caught for operating online gambling sites, six for advertising the sites and five for providing items under another person’s name.

Of the teenagers who were caught, 566 were referred to specialized consultation institutions under their guardian and their consent.

By age, high school students accounted for the most with 798, followed by middle school students with 228 and university students with seven.

Two elementary students were also caught in the latest crackdown, including a 9-year-old nabbed for betting 10,000 won.

Most high school and middle school students were introduced to online gambling sites through their friends, according to the police.

Text messages were the most common tool used to lure students of all ages, including elementary school students. However, some students were lured through online site advertisements and social media ads.

A total of 434 of the underage suspects, or 41.9 percent, played the card game Baccarat. Another 205, or 19.8 percent, engaged in sports gambling and 177, or 17.1 percent, patronized online casinos.

Another 152 underage suspects, or 14.7 percent, played Powerball or slot machines, and 67, or 6.5 percent, played casual games.

According to police, teenage online gambling has increased due to the easy money-charging system after a simple signing-up process. Anybody with a bank account under a real name or gift vouchers can easily top off their gambling accounts.

Through the crackdown, police found that some 1,000 bank accounts under teenagers’ names were being used to manage gambling money.

Student perceptions of gambling as ordinary gaming may also be driving more underage people into online gambling.

Police said that recent adolescent-targeted online gambling has become smarter and more gamified.

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency apprehended eight online gambling site operators who offered games with simple rules that decide the winners and losers in a short period.

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency found that 33 teenagers participated in the games that the operators made.

In Busan, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency investigated a case where two adolescents, skilled in computer coding and managing online servers, joined hands with adults to make an online gambling site.

The police apprehended 16 people related to the site and caught 96 teenagers for gambling on the site. It is said that 213 million won was sent to the operator in gambling money.

The National Office of Investigation said that it plans to conduct another crackdown against adolescent-targeted online gambling for six months starting in May.

It also plans to eradicate illegal and harmful information online through its online crime-fighting volunteers, “nuricops,” and reinforce education for students to prevent gambling crimes.

“Considering the seriousness of youth gambling, we will strictly enforce the law against high-stakes and habitual gamblers and put effort into the rehabilitation, education and promotion at a governmental level,” Woo Jong-soo, the chief of the National Office of Investigation, said. “We also ask households, schools, internet businesses and local communities to pay more attention to the matter.”

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]