Popular South Korean TV comedian and personality Lee Soo-geun is very the gambler, it seems. (Image supply: asianwiki)
We tend, rightly, to think of North Korea due to the fact region where absolutely nothing is allowed and any fun can be had by no one. But as it happens that inside their a lot more cousin that is seemingly westernized the south, the law comes with an iron fist too.
Southern Korea makes gambling save that is illegal a couple of state-run and strictly limited opportunities. Yet, lately, a handful of well-known South Korean celebrities have risked it all for the sake of a gambling that is quick, and now have been caught red-handed by the authorities there.
Celebs Get Trapped
Among those caught up into the gambling allegations certainly are a well-known TV host/comedian, two A-list variety show hosts, and a former singer for the culturally popular variety that is k-pop. They are now all under investigation for unlawful sports gambling.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has established that popular television comedian Lee Soo-geun has been summoned for questioning, based on suspicions that he wagered hundreds of millions of Korean won (1KRW is equal to approximately $0.93) on English Premier League football matches using a gambling website that is private.
Following news of the comedian’s so-called behavior that is bad Lee Soo-geun announced his intentions to go out of all programs he is currently appearing on in order to ‘take some time to reflect,’ according to broadcaster KBS, much like show host Kim Yong-man did whenever he was found to be illegally gambling in April earlier in 2010.
Kim Yong-man has now begun television that is making once again, so obviously he’s finished reflecting on his conduct after being provided an eight-month suspended prison term and 120 hours of community service. And he even bet over one billion Korean won (that’s the currency, not a win) on foreign gambling sites.
Tak Jae-hoon, a television entertainer and show host who reached fame as half for the two-man band Country Kko Kko, has also been called in for enquiry, based on the neighborhood media, again for suspicion of unlawful sports gambling. The partner of the band, Shin slotsforfun-ca.com Jung-hwan, has also faced allegations of illegal gambling.
Under Investigation
In total, reports indicate that between six and eight popular South television that is korean are increasingly being investigated in connection to unlawful sports wagering. Most notable one of them all for the overall public would probably be Tony An, a former singer of the now parted hit kid band H.O.T., who had been summoned last month for their alleged role into the illegal wagering procedure.
Operated beneath the direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Sports Toto is the only appropriate sports betting site in Korea, therefore the top gaming limit is set to 100,000 won per match, whereas the illegal sites within the country have no such gambling limits and so are clearly not regulated by any government authority.
But celebrities aren’t the only ones who need to be careful, as Yoon Ae-sook, a counsellor during the Seoul Gambling Addiction Prevention and Treatment Centre, explains that on line gambling addiction is now more prevalent for the reason that nation. Based on the center, around 2.6 million Koreans have a gambling issue, which equates to a fairly high 7.6 percent of the population that is adult. That’s more than twice the rate into the basic population that is global.
‘ As people can easily access the sites, the number of individuals that are exposed in their mind is rising. Some lose billions of won regarding the internet sites,’ explained Yoon Ae-sook. ‘No one is resistant from gambling. If a person earns cash gambling, they spend more money to win more, while when they lose, they attempt to recover their losses.’
But according to broadcasting insiders, celebrities in Korea are lured into gambling because of the lifestyles which don’t afford them the usual pastimes of the public that is general.
‘Entertainers can’t drink too much because of their tight schedules, and since they’re famous they can not just kick back anywhere and relax,’ claimed Ahn Sang-hwi, a producer at tvN. ‘ They can’t even date for fear of having their pictures all around the gossip pages, so their only socket is gambling.’
New Online Poker Web Site Pays U.S. Players a Quarter to Sit Back
A new internet poker site called Quarter Poker claims to finance tournament players with $ .25 a time, but several aspects raise concerns.
A brand new, innovative and apparently completely legal for U.S. players poker site aims to bridge the space between the play-money gambler and the real-money one, and they’re doing this by actually giving you bankroll, for free.
Providing You With Bankroll
Before you have too excited, that bankroll is merely a quarter. But given that, according to the website, you can get a new shiny one each and can cash out once you hit $50, it at least gives the game a semblance of seriousness day. If you go bust, you need to wait a day to have back in action with another quarter.
The unusual website is called Quarter Poker, and because you aren’t depositing money at any time, it claims to be legal in every U.S. state. Of program, because it’s never been done before quite like this, that remains become seen.
But That Is This Guy?
Take to that we are we could not find, in concrete anywhere, the names of the guys who came up with this idea, or where their funding is coming from either though we did erstwhile investigative reporters. We’d to patch together bits of PR and news to come up with even the title for the guy in the pitch video clip: Alex Klinghoffer. No mention whatsoever of the QP site at least, we thought it was the same guy; the somewhat grainy bio picture on his personal website looks like it could be the same guy, but his resume and bio bear. We finally followed a link on his web site that took us to their Facebook page which had one mention of QP going live, and some images with a stunning girlfriend and some pretty well-heeled looking young men. It claims he’s in Kansas. Maybe he’s a trust investment baby, not mentioning your capital source for the site that is new or any partners, or also yourself, is odd to express the least.
That being said, Klinghoffer does star in his internet site’s promotional video, which is about as slick as the normal made-at-home ones many online marketers post.
All we are able to state is, we’ve covered site that is enough online to say that, if you don’t actually fishy, this way of launching is not the norm. It begs the relevant question: what’s not being said right here? Having said that, we do see Klinghoffer questions that are answering on different poker forums, who knows, maybe he just sucks at self-promotion.
QP claims they won’t make cash on the website until they have enough players to attract advertisers; additionally they hint at a future membership fee, but for now, it’s free.
Performance Dilemmas
That’s the good news. Now here’s the news that is not-so-good. In the website’s FAQs, they built the site themselves, and predicated on some of this player that is early comments, it shows. Appears like they quietly launched on Sept. 29, and at the time of October 10 (12 days later), they noted they were nevertheless waiting for a player to actually cash down the $50. We grant you, with small tournament tables while the opportunity to win about $1.25 for first, that could take awhile, and you would have become running as an Ethiopian marathoner to make it here before 2015. But that’s the least of these problems so far.
A sampling of Facebook comments on their page and there are not many had been mostly frustrated with disconnection problems and unpopulated tables ( the site does say in their FAQs until they pull in enough players to stop using them) that they are using bots the equivalent of shills at a land table.
And you can cash out at $50, for now anyway, you will only be receiving a 2:1 ratio, i.e., $25 in your actual cashout although they say. Again, they blame this for a tiny initial base that is start-up say that will alter as time passes and with the addition of membership fees. It is possible to, theoretically anyway, partake in 6, 10, and 20-player Sit and get tournaments; no cash games are mentioned at the moment, though reportedly the web site’s operators will consider that, aswell as MTTs, later on. The software is said to operate in browsers (we did notice a few remarks blasting the performance of same on the QP Facebook page), so no downloads are required.
Now let’s get to your real elephant in the area: the appropriate angle. Klinghoffer is reportedly quoted as stating that ‘we had the model approved by one regarding the gaming that is top in the country. Even though the reason is obviously type of complicated, it boils down to the undeniable fact that this isn’t gambling.’
Didn’t someone mention their ‘solid’ a lawyer after handing over millions to the Department of Justice in order to avoid a prison term that is lengthy? Hmmm.
Which in turn begs the relevant concern why you have to be 18 to play on the website. Zynga, as an example, just calls for that you be 13, and that’s presumably more so some hysterical moms and dad does not come after them than because of any gambling technicalities they might get nailed for.
