{"id":777044235,"date":"2026-06-29T08:50:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777044235"},"modified":"2026-06-29T08:51:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T11:51:53","slug":"south-korea-says-over-150-arrested-in-seven-month-crackdown-on-illegal-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/south-korea-says-over-150-arrested-in-seven-month-crackdown-on-illegal-online-gambling","title":{"rendered":"South Korea says over 150 arrested in seven-month crackdown on illegal online gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Korean police say they are investigating 2,319 people and have seized US$69.8m in criminal proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

South Korea.- The National Police Agency (NPA)<\/strong> has announced the results of a nationwide crackdown on illegal online gambling. It says it’s investigating 2,319 <\/strong>people linked to 1,746 cases<\/strong> opened between November 2025 and June 2026. The operation targeted alleged large-scale gambling organisations, including operators managing sites with betting volumes of more than KRW 1tn (US$648m)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police said 154 suspects have been arrested<\/strong> so far, while authorities seized or froze KRW 107.2bn<\/strong> (approximately US$69.8m<\/strong>) in criminal proceeds. That latter figure is 2.3 times higher than the amount recovered during the same period last year amid an increase in asset-tracing efforts, including the seizure of luxury vehicles, bank deposits and other assets linked to illegal gambling operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the largest cases, the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency<\/strong> says it dismantled a gambling network operating from Vietnam that processed KRW 1.31tn<\/strong> (US$840m) in wagers over five years. Authorities arrested 63 people connected to the case and seized KRW 38.7bn (US$25m)<\/strong> in criminal assets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, police located 75 suspects<\/strong> who had fled overseas, while 15 alleged operators<\/strong> based in countries including the Philippines and Cambodia were extradited to South Korea to face charges. Authorities also said they are expanding their focus beyond operators to companies believed to design and supply illegal gambling platforms after finding that many of the dismantled sites shared the same underlying technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cyber gambling is a transnational crime that evolves across borders based on massive criminal proceeds,” said Park Woo-hyun<\/strong>, Cyber Investigation Deliberation Officer at the National Police Agency. “We will not stop at apprehending lower-level members but will actively pursue ringleaders and site suppliers.” The agency confirmed that investigations will continue throughout the second half of the year, with a particular focus on overseas operators and technology providers.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> South Korean police arrest 63 in operation against Vietnam-based gambling network<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Korean police say they are investigating 2,319 people and have seized US$69.8m in criminal proceeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":15732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"South Korean police are conducting a significant crackdown on illegal online gambling, investigating over 2,300 individuals and seizing nearly US$70 million in criminal proceeds from operations with substantial betting volumes. The enforcement effort, which includes international extraditions and asset tracing, is now expanding to target B2B platform designers and suppliers, recognizing the transnational nature of these illicit activities.","focusai_entities":"National Police Agency, NPA, Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, Park Woo-hyun","focusai_location":"South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), tech_data (0.75), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.95), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"B2B Supplier Liability?","query":"What specific legal frameworks or precedents are being leveraged by South Korean authorities to prosecute B2B technology suppliers implicated in illegal gambling operations, particularly those operating transnationally?"},{"label":"Market Impact Analysis?","query":"How might the sustained and expanded crackdown on illegal online gambling, including B2B suppliers, influence the potential for future regulated iGaming market development or expansion in South Korea?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[25174,24634,152],"class_list":["post-777044235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-crackdown","tag-illegal-online-gambling","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777044235"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777044242,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044235\/revisions\/777044242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777044235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777044235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777044235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}