KOREAN BASEBALL PROS IN HOT WATER

5 December 2008

Allegations of illegal online gambling being investoigated by South Korean prosecutors

 

Up to 14 professional baseball players in South Korea are being investigated by prosecutors on allegations of illegal online wagering involved "tens of millions" of the local currency, the won, reports the Korea Times.

Prosecutors have confirmed to the newspaper that 12 to 14 baseball players are alleged to have played Baccarat on an [unidentified] Internet site, gambling large amounts of money.

Baseball player-turned-show host Kang Byung-kyu was recently taken to court on similar charges, playing on a live-betting Internet casino website featuring baccarat videostreamed live from the Philippes (see previous InfoPowa reports).

Local prosecution officials said they will summon the players soon for questioning. "We examined whether other people borrowed the players' names for membership of the gambling site, but we secured evidence that the players themselves gambled,'' the senior prosecutor revealed.

According to officials investigating the case, some players stopped gambling after winning money in the games and being threatened with exposure by the operator of the website. "The operator, suspecting that the players won the games through hacking, threatened that they would notify their teams of their gambling, so the players stopped using the site,'' one official told the Korea Times.

The investigation will include an examination of the bank accounts of the players who stand accused.