
Popular South Korean TV comedian and personality Lee Soo-geun is quite the gambler, it seems. (Image supply: asianwiki)
We tend, rightly, to think of North Korea while the area where nothing is allowed and no one can have any fun. But as it happens that in their much more seemingly Westernized cousin to the south, the law has an iron fist too.
South Korea makes gambling save that is illegal a couple of state-run and strictly limited opportunities. Yet, recently, a handful of well-known South Korean celebrities have risked it all for the sake of a gambling that is quick, and have now been caught red-handed by the authorities there.
Celebs Get Caught Up
Among those caught up in the gambling allegations are a definite well-known TV host/comedian, two A-list variety show hosts, and a former singer for the culturally popular variety that is k-pop. They have been now all under investigation for unlawful sports gambling.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has established that popular tv comedian Lee Soo-geun has been summoned for questioning, based on suspicions that he wagered hundreds of millions of Korean won (1KRW is equal to approximately $0.93) on English Premier League soccer matches using a private gambling website.
Following news of the comedian’s alleged behavior that is bad Lee Soo-geun announced his motives to leave all programs he is currently appearing on in order to ‘take some time to reflect,’ according to broadcaster KBS, just like show host Kim Yong-man did when he was found to be illegally gambling in April earlier this present year.
Kim Yong-man has now begun making television appearances when again, so obviously he has finished reflecting on his conduct after being offered an eight-month suspended prison term and 120 hours of community service. And he even bet over one billion Korean won (that’s the currency, maybe not a win) on foreign gambling sites.
Tak Jae-hoon, a television entertainer and show host who reached fame as one half regarding the band that is two-man Kko Kko, has additionally been called in for enquiry, in line with the local media, again for suspicion of illegal sports gambling. The spouse associated with the musical organization, Shin Jung-hwan, has also faced allegations of illegal gambling.
Under Investigation
In total, reports indicate that between six and eight popular South Korean television characters are being investigated in connection to illegal sports wagering. Most notable one of them all for the typical public would probably be Tony An, a former singer of the now parted hit boy band H.O.T., who was simply summoned final thirty days for his alleged role within the wagering process that is illegal.
Operated beneath the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Sports Toto is the only appropriate sports betting site in Korea, therefore the top gaming limit is set to 100,000 won per match, whereas the illegal sites within the country have no such wagering limits and tend to be demonstrably not regulated by any authority that is governmental.
But celebrities aren’t the ones that are only need to be careful, as Yoon Ae-sook, a counsellor at the Seoul Gambling Addiction Prevention and Treatment Centre, explains that on the web gambling addiction is now more prevalent in that nation. According to the center, around 2.6 million Koreans have a gambling issue, which means a reasonably high 7.6 percent of the population that is adult. That’s significantly more than twice the rate within the general population that is global.
‘ As people can access the sites easily, the number of individuals who’re exposed for them is increasing. Some lose billions of won on the web sites,’ explained Yoon Ae-sook. ‘No one is resistant from gambling. In case a individual earns cash gambling, they spend more money to win more, while when they lose, they make an effort to recover their losses.’
But according to broadcasting insiders, celebrities in Korea are lured into gambling as a result of the lifestyles which don’t afford them the usual pastimes of the general public.
‘Entertainers can not take in excessively because of their tight schedules, and since they’re famous they can’t just kick back once again anywhere and relax,’ stated Ahn Sang-hwi, a producer at tvN. ‘ They can’t even date for fear to getting their pictures all around the gossip pages, so their outlet that is only is.’
New On Line Poker Web Site Pays U.S. Players a Quarter to Sit Down
A new internet poker site called Quarter Poker claims to finance tournament players with $ .25 a day, but a couple of aspects raise questions.
A new, revolutionary and apparently totally appropriate for U.S. players poker site aims to bridge the gap involving the play-money gambler and the real-money one, and they’re doing this by actually providing you bankroll, free of charge.
Providing You Bankroll
Before you get too excited, that bankroll is only a quarter. But given that, according to the website, you will get a brand new shiny one each day, and can cash out when you hit $50, it at the least provides game a semblance of seriousness. You have to wait 24 hours to get back in action with another quarter if you go bust.
The unusual website is called Quarter Poker, and because you’re not depositing money at any time, it claims to be appropriate in every U.S. state. Of course, since it’s never been done before that can match this, that remains become seen.
But That Is This Guy?
Try that we are we could not find, in concrete anywhere, the names of the guys who came up with this idea, or where their funding is coming from either though we did erstwhile investigative reporters. We had to patch together bits of PR and news to even come up with the name of this man in the pitch video: Alex Klinghoffer. At minimum, we thought it absolutely was the same man; the significantly grainy bio picture on his personal site looks like maybe it’s equivalent guy, but their application and bio bear no mention whatsoever of the QP site. We finally adopted a link on his website that took us to his Facebook page which had one mention of QP going live, and some images with a beautiful gf and some pretty well-heeled looking young men. It claims he’s in Kansas. Maybe he’s a trust fund baby, however mentioning your capital source for a site that is new or any partners, or also yourself, is odd to say minimal.
That being said, Klinghoffer does star in his site’s promotional vid, which is about as slick as the typical made-at-home ones many online marketers post.
All we could state is, we’ve covered enough online site launches to state that, or even actually fishy, this way of launching isn’t the norm. It begs the question: what is not being said right here? Having said that, we do see Klinghoffer answering questions directly on different poker forums, who knows, possibly he just sucks at self-promotion.
QP claims they won’t make cash on the webpage they also hint at a future membership fee, but for now, it’s free until they have enough players to attract advertisers.
Performance Dilemmas
This is the news that is good. Now here’s the news that is not-so-good. In the site’s FAQs, they built the web site themselves, and according to some associated with player that is early comments, it shows. Looks they noted they were still waiting for a player to actually cash out the $50 like they quietly launched on Sept. 29, and as of October 10 (12 days later. We grant you, with small tournament tables therefore the possiblity to win about $1.25 for first, that may simply take awhile, and you would have become running such as an marathoner that is ethiopian make it there before 2015. But that’s the least of the issues therefore far.
A sampling of Facebook comments on their page and there are not many had been mostly frustrated with disconnection problems and unpopulated tables ( the site does say in their FAQs that they are making use of bots the equivalent of shills at a land table until they pull in enough players to stop using them).
And although they say it is possible to cash out at $50, for now anyway, you will only be finding a 2:1 ratio, i.e., $25 in your actual cashout. Again, they blame this on a small initial start-up base and say that will alter with time and with the addition of membership fees. https://slotsforfun-ca.com/huuuge-casino-review/ It is possible to, theoretically anyway, partake in 6, 10, and 20-player Sit and Go tournaments; no cash games are mentioned at present, though reportedly the web site’s operators will consider that, too as MTTs, later on. The software is said to operate in web browsers (we did experience a comments that are few the performance of exact same in the QP Facebook page), so no packages are required.
Now let’s get to the real elephant in the room: the angle that is legal. Klinghoffer is reportedly quoted as saying that ‘we had the model approved by one regarding the top gaming attorneys in the nation. And even though the reason is actually kind of complicated, it boils down to the proven fact that this is not gambling.’
Didn’t somebody mention their ‘solid’ legal counsel after handing over millions to the Department of Justice to avoid a long jail term? Hmmm.
Which in turn begs the question why you have to be 18 to play on your website. Zynga, for instance, only calls for that you be 13, and that’s presumably more so some hysterical moms and dad doesn’t come after them than due to any gambling technicalities they could get nailed for.