South Korea's Supreme Court has confirmed that distributing, selling or brokering the purchase of overseas lottery tickets inside the country is illegal, covering both online and offline sales, Yonhap News TV reported1. The ruling, handed down in the previous month, upheld a lower court decision that mediating and inducing domestic purchases of foreign lotteries violates relevant laws1.
The court's position was stated plainly in the report:
"이 같은 해외 복권 판매는 온라인, 오프라인 할 것 없이 모두 불법이라는 대법원 판결이 나왔습니다."
The case drew attention to unmanned kiosks selling foreign lottery tickets, promoted with slogans such as "US lottery" and "life reversal"1. Complaints about such kiosks being installed began reaching the National Gambling Control Commission about three years earlier, and 379 of the machines were identified nationwide at the time of the report1.
The exposure is not limited to operators. Under the relevant law, a person who buys an illegal lottery can face a fine of up to 10 million won1. The report said both those who distribute and sell overseas lotteries and those who purchase them can be punished1.
A commission official urged the public to report illegal foreign lottery vending machines to the nearest police station1. The government said it plans to strengthen monitoring to prevent further harm1.
What it means for players
For anyone in South Korea, buying a ticket for a foreign lottery through a domestic agent, a kiosk or an online reseller now sits on confirmed illegal ground, and the risk runs to the buyer as well as the seller, with a fine of up to 10 million won1. That applies whether the transaction happens in person or over the internet1. The ruling concerns the domestic brokering and sale of overseas lotteries; it does not change the legal status of the official domestic lottery. Details such as how enforcement will treat individual buyers, or whether past purchasers face action, have not been reported1.
What happens next
The government said it will strengthen monitoring of overseas lottery sales to prevent further harm1. No timeline, enforcement targets or further court dates were reported1.
For background on how these rules work, see Buying Lottery Tickets Online Through Agents and Foreign Lottery Sites and Can You Be Prosecuted at Home for Gambling Abroad?. Country-level detail is in Can I Gamble in South Korea?, with the wider regional picture in Gambling Laws in Asia: What Is Legal in 12 Jurisdictions and Online Gambling in Asia: The Law for Players in 12 Jurisdictions.
Sources1 sources
- 당첨되면 수천억원?…해외복권 구매자도 처벌 가능 | 연합뉴스, yna.co.kr
