South Korean police arrested 11 people who ran illegal private horse racing sites from an office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and 18 members of an organization that exchanged gambling funds, and referred them to prosecutors, Yonhap News TV reported on September 26, 20251. Police also sent 140 site members who made profits of 5 million won or more to prosecutors on gambling charges1.
The group bought horse racing footage through a Chinese company and used it to run the sites illegally, and on days when there were no Korea Racing Authority races it had users bet on Japanese racing1. It recruited users through referrals by a horse racing YouTuber and through random text message advertising1.
Police said the funds were pooled into a single account to hide the scale of gambling on each site1.
"경찰은 한국마사회가 운영하는 공식 경마장을 제외하고는 모든 경마 사이트 도박이 불법이라고 강력히 경고했습니다."
What it means for players
The police statement draws the line at the Korea Racing Authority's official racecourses: betting through any other horse racing site is illegal1. That covers the private sites in this case, which bought horse racing footage through a Chinese company and ran their operation illegally1. Players whose accounts were with these eight sites are inside an investigation that has already produced 140 referred bettors, and the threshold police used for referral was profit of 5 million won or more1. For background on how legal betting works in the country, see Can I Gamble in South Korea? and Betting on Horse Racing in South Korea. Illegal sites and related fraud are covered in Gambling Scams and Illegal Sites in South Korea.
What happens next
The 11 operators, the 18 exchange members and the 140 bettors have been referred to prosecutors1.
No court dates or further charges have been reported.
Sources1 sources
- 마사회 영상으로 불법 경마 도박…유튜버 바람잡이도 | 연합뉴스, yna.co.kr
