Three South Koreans Arrested in UAE for Running $2.3B Gambling Scheme

According to South Korean police, three South Korean suspects accused of operating an illegal online gambling business worth KRW 3.1 trillion (about $2.3 billion) from abroad have been arrested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following a joint investigation with local authorities. UAE Arrested the Three Alleged Gambling Bosses The suspects left South Korea in 2016 and allegedly operated illegal gambling websites valued at KRW 2.6 trillion ($1.95 billion) from countries including the Philippines and Malaysia, according to South Korean authorities. The alleged ringleader and his second-in-command are also suspected of using the UAE as a base to evade law enforcement and launder large sums of illicit proceeds. Named “Halak,” an Arabic term meaning “destruction,” the operation involved cooperation between South Korean investigators and UAE authorities to apprehend the alleged members of the group. Two of them have already been repatriated to South Korea. South Korea has been quite hawkish lately when it comes to illegal gambling. Authorities in the country have recently taken action against 26 people who accessed Polymarket to place trades, which is an activity the government deems illegal. Since leaving South Korea in 2016, the suspects allegedly used third-country passports to conceal their identities and evaded investigators by moving between Malaysia and other countries. The group was especially bold, even promoted BetEast, a sports betting website banned in South Korea, by displaying its logo on the jerseys of English Premier League club Swansea City and inside its stadium in 2016. The group didn’t work alone, relying on many others. One accomplice, who developed gambling software, was found to have links to a separate online gambling operation valued at KRW 500 billion ($347 million). The group allegedly even recruited middle school students for its scheme. The suspects allegedly maintained a lavish lifestyle while evading authorities. According to authorities, they even invited well-known Korean celebrities to the Middle East and regularly visited high-end entertainment venues. According to authorities, the second-in-command allegedly had connections to a prominent television personality. South Korean President Commented on the News South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung expressed gratitude to the leader of the United Arab Emirates for his government’s cooperation in the arrest of the alleged ringleaders. Lee attributed the arrests to close cooperation between the UAE government and South Korea’s interagency task force on transnational crime. He emphasized that criminals cannot evade justice by fleeing overseas. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Lee said that the government would pursue fugitives relentlessly, bring them back to South Korea, and recover their illicit proceeds. He added that authorities would continue to take firm action against transnational crime to protect the public’s daily lives. In other news from the UAE, Wynn Resorts could generate more gaming revenue than expected from its upcoming casino resort in the country, experts say.