The Seoul of Drama
Reports are starting to trickle out of South Korea by the AP and some European papers about some major drama going down in the country that could be considered the capital of true hardcore gamers.
This political scandal meets video game epic starts with the arrest of the distributor of a popular illegal gambling machine being linked to President Roh Moo-Hyun (the one on the left) – from there all signs point to the president being part of this illegal gambling industry, which has made 21 billion dollars in the last two years.
It is believed that these illegal machines are cutting into the internet cafes called “PC-bang” in South Korea. There are currently 20,000 cafes, and since the proliferation of broadband connection within people’s homes, many of these internet cafes are hurting for business to the point that they’ve converted over to becoming illegal gambling establishments.
As a result, the online game industry has suffered a setback in it’s once-booming market for fantasy and adventure multiple role-playing games like NCSoft Corp.’s Lineage.
Promoters of online gaming say the move toward gambling machines has threatened South Korea’s current position as king of the online game market. They warn that the way things are going, mainland China may replace South Korea as the online game leader by the end of this decade.
Read Deutsche Presse Agentur here
or the AP story:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ The South Korean government called Thursday for a crackdown on illegal video game arcades amid growing concerns about the spread of gambling.
The latest move follows allegations that a large arcade chain, called Sea Story, has operated illegally by manipulating its machines to pay out much larger prizes to winners than were reported to authorities who granted licenses to the devices.
Sea Story rewards gift certificates as prizes rather than cash, but the certificates can be exchanged into cash for a fee at booths near the arcades.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Myung-sook called for an ``immediate withdrawal’’ of gaming machines that promote gambling.
In a Cabinet meeting, Han ordered that computer and video game arcades ``that illegally promote gambling be closed down immediately … so that gambling can no longer set its foot in our society,’’ the Office of Government Policy Coordination said in a statement.
Gambling is illegal in South Korea, which operates just one casino open to local citizens. Several other foreigner-only casinos are also permitted.
Prosecutors have launched a probe into allegations about Sea Story’s illegal operations as well as suspected influence-peddling by officials responsible for approving its operation.
AP-CS-08-24-06 0412EDT
Alexander
Posted to Video Games on 25 August 2006
Other stuff like this: corruption, gambling, south korea
