Differences between gambling and gaming

What are differences between gambling and game? The Criminal Code has a provision suggesting that a person who gambled shall be given up to 10 million won (8,300 U.S. dollars) in fine, but it shall be an exception if it was only temporary gaming.” In 2007, people who played "hula hula" card game with 260,000 won (230 dollars) at stake were found not guilty. In 2006, a person who played "go-stop" Japanese card game with 20,000 won (17 dollars) was found guilty, as the court judged it was too big an amount relative to his living expenses as a person on welfare. The court comprehensively considers the time, place, and economic situation of the gamer, but it is ambiguous to ordinary people.

The Samsung Lions, which seek to sweep the dual series of the Korean pro baseball for five consecutive years, is facing an unexpected obstacle just ahead of the Korean Series, the final step towards the goal. Two of its key players are suspected of engaging in illegal gambling overseas. At Samsung, 13 of its players were caught for playing illegal online gambling in 2008 as well. Critics say that Samsung has a problem in managing its players. Among online posts uploaded by baseball fans, some suggest that they did not cause harm to others and played with their own money, and what should be the problem?

Chung Yoon-ho, CEO of Nature Republic who is nicknamed "Midas Hands" in the Korean cosmetics industry, and CEO of a mid-size shipping company identified by his last name Moon are being investigated for illegal gambling charges. They played gambling by renting a VIP room called "junket room" at a hotel casino in Macau, and spent 700 million won (620,000 dollars) to 1.4 billion won (1.24 million dollars) per occasion. Reportedly lying behind their illegal gambling were gangsters with an organized crime ring, who lent them money and illegally exchanged foreign currency for them, saying, "They can come empty handed to Macau." This constitutes a story that sounds just as interesting as the movie "The Godfather" that involves organized crime rings, casinos and sex.

Gambling has a long history as the history of humanity. It may be right to say that the act of gods including Zeus in the Greek mythology throwing a dice and dividing the universe into the heaven and the hell was a gamble with the largest bet at stake ever. China’s state-run CCTV recently carried a high-profile report saying that some casinos in Korea are recruiting Chinese patrons by mobilizing inappropriate means including provision of free sexual favors. The Chinese government arrested 107 Chinese nationals who engaged in illegal gambling and Korean brokers in Jeju, Korean resort island, late last year. Countries seek to attract foreigners by opening casinos but ban their own nationals from engaging in gambling. Can gaming to foreigners be gambling to its own nationals?

ysshin@donga.com