‘Vendor company’ discovered for the first time, 14 people arrested, 7 arrested and sent
Operating gambling halls, including direct supply of casino video and game money
A group of people based in the Philippines who operated a 5 trillion won gambling site by directly supplying casino videos and game money from casino game companies and even creating a site to distribute them was arrested.
The Gangwon Police Agency’s criminal task force announced on the 6th that it had arrested 14 people, including Chief A, and detained 7 on charges of organizing a criminal group and opening a gambling space.
They are suspected of operating a gambling site valued at 5.3 trillion won for about seven months from September last year to March this year by connecting casino videos of famous overseas game companies to the gambling site they created and selling them to the operating managers along with game money.
According to the police, Mr. A, the general manager, planned to commit a crime while incarcerated on charges of opening a gambling space in 2020, and after being released from prison, he recruited gambling site program developers and set up an office disguised as a server rental company for site production and distribution.
Then, from November 2021 to March of this year, 266 gambling sites were created and sold to lower-level operation managers, receiving 3 million won per month as management fees and operating them by selling ‘AL’, casino game money.
Mr. A’s group established a ‘vendor company’ based in the Philippines in September last year to maximize the profits of crime.
The vendor company is a distribution site that can receive casino video and game money directly from the game company. It goes beyond selling video and game money to lower-level operating managers through the vendor company and maximizes criminal profits by setting up a vendor company that is at the top of gambling house operation crime.
Although there have been cases in which gambling house operators and gambling site developers have been arrested, this is reportedly the first case in the country where a vendor company, whose connection is difficult to find, was also caught and arrested.
In addition, the scale of gambling operations identified over the past 7 months is approximately 5.3 trillion won. Considering that the crime period begins in November 2021, the scale is expected to be dozens of times greater.
The police launched an investigation based on clues obtained from a suspect arrested on suspicion of operating an illegal gambling site and succeeded in arresting the organization. Two gang members who fled abroad were issued arrest warrants and placed on a red notice by the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO, Interpol).
In addition, a total of KRW 480 million in criminal proceeds was confiscated from five executive-level gang members, including KRW 278.4 million in cash hidden by Mr. B, the co-leader who escaped, in an unmanned storage room, and a total of KRW 3.3465 billion in criminal proceeds was collected and preserved before indictment.
