Claimed US$3.5mln scam on Chinese, Daegu Casino: reports

Jun 22, 2022 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Criminal indictments were issued on Monday against 12 people that have worked at Daegu Casino in South Korea, encompassing allegations dating back to 2017, that some staff engaged in a KRW4.5-billion (US$3.5-million) scam against several Chinese players of baccarat, reported local media.

Daegu District Prosecutor’s Office took the action after an investigation into the foreigner-only casino at Hotel Inter-Burgo in Daegu, in the southeast of the country.

The allegations cover casino cheating, malfeasance, and misappropriation, according to information from Korean-language news outlets, collated by GGRAsia’s South Korea correspondent.

The District Prosecutor’s Office, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which oversees the country’s casino sector, had in early May respectively confirmed to GGRAsia an ongoing investigation into Daegu Casino.

Two people described as senior bosses at the time of the alleged offences, are among the accused. Also accused of wrongdoing are two people who at the time were executives; four people that were employed as sales people; and four that were working as casino dealers. All 12 face accusations of casino cheating.

The media reports did not name the individuals allegedly involved. They are not currently in detention, according to the reports.

According to local news outlets, casino dealers cheated KRW4.5 billion from two Chinese nationals – described in one local outlet as people from Hong Kong – that had played baccarat at the venue. The scam was alleged to have involved “false shuffling” of cards and “card swapping” by dealers, and purportedly happened in September 2017.

There was also allegedly a scam in July 2017 that cheated KRW54 million from a Japanese player via the same methods.

The two that were senior bosses at the time, are also alleged to have borrowed KRW9.1 billion from a Hong Kong financial service provider, and then lent KRW6.45 billion of that sum to one of the accused casino executives, without requiring security from the recipient. The act, described as malfeasance, allegedly occurred in 2017.

On of the then-bosses also allegedly misappropriated KRW950 million of the firm’s funds for “discretionary consumption”.

The two bosses and the two executives allegedly offered complimentary services with a value of KRW230 million to the accused dealers as an inducement for them to take part in the scamming of players, according to prosecutors. Such an act of inducement is also classified in South Korea as malfeasance.

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