Police Expanding Video Gambling Probe

The prosecution’s video gambling investigation is showing signs of expanding in all directions. The Violent Crimes Department of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office, which arrested representatives of manufacturing and marketing companies of slot machines such as “Sea Story”; “Hwang Geum Seong”; and “Ineo Iyagi” have so far focused their investigation on illegal alterations of the slot machines.

A close look at the accusations made by the prosecution against Representative Cha Yong-gwan (36) of A-One Biz, the manufacturer of “Sea Story,” shows that the main point is the alteration of the machines to add the “Jackpot” function, which made winning prizes of 25 thousand times the original amount possible, while the permit from the Korea Media Rating Board allowed only 200 times the original game money.

However, the pending investigation will inevitably move in the direction of the licensing process and the identity of its background.

An official of the prosecution showed caution, saying on August 20 that, “If there are no people bringing in intelligence and filing charges, a private inquiry regarding political matters such as the licensing process will be difficult.” However, President Roh Moo-hyun ordered “strictness in investigating and regulating gambling machines” the very same day, and with suspicions rising at the current rate, an expansion of the investigation seems unavoidable.

The prosecution’s future investigation appears to be moving in the direction of lobbying and the intervention of the political and government circles in the licensing process.

According to the prosecution, the Korea Media Rating Board failed to check the programs of the games when inspecting “Sea Story,” giving a passing mark after viewing the game manuals and machines. Signs of a person related to the Rating Board receiving 10 million won from a broker regarding rating from a slot machine company also gave rise to suspicions about the Rating Board’s examination process.

The matter of the shares of A-One Biz and Ziko Prime is also something that needs to be cleared up.

The current results of the investigation show that the shares of the two companies are distributed among four board members including Cha. However, the arrest warrant of the prosecution says that, “There is a high probability that a third party owns the actual shares.” The possibility of an actual owner and the suspicion that “The political world is involved with the arcade business” are coming together at this point.

It is also highly probable that the prosecution will investigate the possibility of lobbying during the process of assigning companies which issue the gift coupons used as prizes.

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