Faker and Korean police get teens to fold their hand on gambling

Transfer 30,000 won ($21.20), play a few hands of poker — you play with your academy classmates at breaktime at least three times a week — and see 60,000 won hit your bank account almost instantly. What teen wouldn't be enticed, especially if they're 500,000 won deep in gambling debt already.

A growing number of Korean teenagers who gambled are reporting themselves to police after authorities launched a campaign offering lenient penalties to those who self-report by Aug. 31.

Esports legend Lee Sang-hyeok, also known as Faker, joined the nationwide effort to save teenagers from online gambling by taking the ambassador role for the campaign. 

The campaign, which opened on May 18, has seen teenagers reporting themselves, with police receiving 294 reports in the first month and 512 in the second. 

Police’s efforts align with a bill proposed by People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Yoon Young-seok in May, which requires elementary, middle and high schools across Korea to run a program aimed at preventing gambling per semester.

Collective moves from the public sector also come after data showed that a substantial share of teenagers who try gambling once go on to keep wagering — a pattern linked to severe problems, including debts as large as 100 million won. 

Teenagers end up with debts that can exceed hundreds of millions of won after falling into a pattern of constant gambling, according to accounts from the Korea Gambling Addiction Treatment Center (KGATC), a private center that supports people struggling with gambling addiction. 

Debts are only part of what happens to teenagers who gamble. Once they enter the gambling world, initial wins — even modest ones, in the hundreds of thousands of won — often embolden them to chase bigger payouts.

Easy access to gambling

Gambling among teenagers is not so prevalent when looking at the overall stats. Only 4 percent of teenagers engaged in gambling, according to a study released by the Korea Problem Gambling Agency (KPGA) in December of last year.  The study surveyed a total of 13,481 students from fourth to 12th grades from September to November last year through an online questionnaire conducted at their schools.

Deeper issues, however, lie within those who continue to gamble after their first experience. Among those who gambled, 19 percent of them were still making wagers six months after their first bet.

A practice that could plunge teenagers into debt predominantly starts online. Among those who gambled, 82 percent of teenagers responded that they first experienced gambling on the internet, according to the KPGA.

This happens partly because operators of illegal online gambling sites, such as casino-style games, send texts to random phone numbers or run ads on frequently visited websites to attract bettors. For teenagers, illegal webtoon and movie-streaming sites are reportedly the main venues gambling operators target.

More than half of teenagers from the KPGA study, or 54 percent, said that they had seen advertisements for gambling such as pop-up ads or social media posts.

“These kinds of ads appear often on webtoon websites and offer 30,000 won to first-time users,” Chu Won-yong, a director from the KGATC, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “Essentially, they’re giving away free money.”

While teenagers' entry into online gambling starts with ads, addiction to the practice begins when teenagers see the cash roll in.

“If you put in 30,000 won, you have to bet 30,000 or 60,000 won before you can withdraw the money,” Chu said. “If you bet 60,000 won and win, the money is actually deposited directly into your bank account. Most kids see the money actually being deposited. They think, ‘Wow, there’s a place where you can make money this easily.’ That’s when they start getting into it.” 

Addiction brings debt and much more  

Teenagers may start gambling with nothing more than their allowance, but by the time they become addicted, they can accumulate debts that are impossible for them to repay.

“If you consider that a middle school student typically receives around 150,000 won in allowance, it’s hard to believe that they could rack up 10 million or even 20 million won in debt,” Chu said. “The system basically leaves parents with no choice but to pay it back. For high school students, the debt typically ranges from 15 million won at the low end to as much as 80 million or even 100 million won.”

Gambling addiction does not stop there but drives teenagers to commit crimes to finance their gambling.

“The danger of illegal gambling among teenagers lies in the fact that they are more likely to commit serious crimes, such as theft and voice phishing, to obtain money to fund their gambling,” Kim Kuk-il, an attorney from Daeryun Lawfirm, said in a legal guidance shared by his law firm last year. “Police and other investigative authorities say gambling is the most common motive cited by teenagers arrested for serious crimes.”

That link between gambling and crime holds true among teenagers seeking treatment at KGATC, some of whom have criminal histories tied to their gambling.

“These days, the most common crime by teenagers from what I’ve seen is scams on [secondhand marketplace] Karrot,” Chu said. “For example, someone might have a laptop at home that’s worth 2 million won but list it on Karrot for 700,000 won. Then they might say, ‘I’m in a hurry, so could you send me 300,000 won upfront?’ They get the victim to send only the deposit and then disappear.”

Gambling addiction may also extend into the teenagers' adult lives.

“Among the adults who came to the KGATC after starting to gamble as teenagers, I’ve never seen anyone who quit as a teenager and then started gambling again as an adult,” Chu said. “You can basically assume it continues right through.”

Efforts to curb gambling

As the consequences of teenage gambling can be severe, the government has stepped up efforts to eradicate the practice.

The police's campaign featuring Faker is part of it. Under the program, teenagers 19 and under can voluntarily report that they engaged in gambling. Those who do so through Aug. 31, the program's deadline, will receive a warning or be subject to other lenient measures instead of a formal punishment, which can be a fine of up to 10 million won.

The National Assembly, meanwhile, is reviewing a revision to the National Gambling Control Commission Act that strengthens education programs in school.

“While current law requires schools to provide gambling prevention education for teenagers, it does not clearly say how often schools should offer it or whether it is mandatory,” the bill proposal said. “As a result, some schools provide the education while others do not, and the quality of the programs varies.

“The proposed measure would require elementary, middle and high schools to provide gambling prevention education at least once every semester and establish a more systematic framework for its content and implementation. The aim is to prevent gambling addiction among teenagers and help them develop responsible attitudes.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has begun taking other measures that can make access to gambling-related content more difficult.  Since May 11, the Culture Ministry has ordered 34 copyright-infringing websites — including illegal streaming sites that may carry pop-up ads for gambling — to be shut down. 

This could be a step toward reducing the spread of online gambling, but teenagers can still find their way to it through word-of-mouth or social media.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]