A large-scale syndicate that built and supplied illegal gambling websites involving a record-breaking 23 trillion won in stakes has been caught en masse by police.

The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency announced today (October 19) that it has apprehended 77 members of the organization on charges including opening illegal gambling spaces, and detained 21 of them.

They are accused of creating and supplying 188 illegal gambling websites and selling game money both domestically and abroad, including in Vietnam and Cambodia, from March 2023 to July of this year.

According to police investigations, they committed the crimes by securing casino video feeds and game money from legitimate overseas gaming companies and handing them over to illegal gambling website developers to mass-produce the sites.

In particular, the development firm recruited developers from major domestic conglomerates to directly create a gambling website production program, which allowed them to build a single site in just 10 minutes, police found.


The police estimated that the stakes handled through these gambling sites reached an all-time high of approximately 23 trillion won, with the criminal proceeds amassed by the casino video supply organization and development firm totaling 150 billion won.

Police investigations revealed that they frequently relocated their offices between Southeast Asia and South Korea while using overseas servers and messengers to evade tracking.

Police applied charges of forming and joining a criminal organization to 24 members of the development firm, shut down the operations of all 188 gambling sites they created and supplied, and blocked access to 408 related internet addresses.

In addition, pre-indictment asset preservation has been completed for 9.6 billion won in criminal proceeds, and Interpol red notices have been issued for 12 suspects who fled abroad to pursue their forced repatriation.

(Photo provided by Chungnam Provincial Police Agency, Yonhap News)