Illegal Online Gambling Despite Distribution and Promotion
A gambling game featuring the national hero Admiral Yi Sun Shin (1545?1598) wearing Chinese-style armor has sparked controversy.
According to Yonhap News on the 14th, the British game company 'Pragmatic Play' released an online slot machine game called Yi Sun Shin last September. This game is openly distributed on domestic illegal gambling sites. Online gambling is illegal in South Korea.
The demo version available on the website shows Yi Sun Shin wearing Chinese-style armor. The slot reels feature a turtle ship, bow, shield, kite, and cannon. When players win game money, Korean phrases such as "Yi Sun Shin has returned," "I have been waiting for today," and "Victory is mine" appear.
Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University expressed concern, saying, "Having Admiral Yi Sun Shin, a hero of the Republic of Korea, appear in a gambling game produced by an overseas game company could cause significant misunderstandings among users worldwide." He promised, "We will protest to the game company to have Admiral Yi Sun Shin removed from the game."
Not only is it criticized that Yi Sun Shin is depicted wearing Chinese-style armor in a gambling game, but the controversy is also spreading due to the fact that online gambling is illegal in South Korea. 'Pragmatic Play,' the developer of this game, is a casino game specialist licensed by the UK Gambling Commission (UGC). Online casinos and sports betting are legal for adults in the UK. However, the game is being promoted and distributed illegally in South Korea, where casino operations are prohibited. There are dozens of related videos made in Korean on YouTube. Some companies even promote this game as a 'patriotic slot.'
According to data submitted by the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) to Min Hyung-bae, a member of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the Democratic Party, there were a total of 53,183 illegal gambling site reviews in 2022. On average, it took 56 days from external agency requests to corrective action. The longest case took 465 days, about 15 months, from receipt to resolution.
The number of illegal gambling sites reported and received by the KCSC reached 127,732 in 2022, a 35% increase compared to 94,253 in 2019 over three years. During this period, the size of the online illegal gambling market grew by about 27%, from approximately 55 trillion won to about 70 trillion won.
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