[사설] A special law must be established to eradicate illegal online gambling.

Illustration = Artist Yoo Dong-su

Illegal online gambling is spreading throughout society, including youth, and is becoming a serious social problem. On the 14th, comedian Lee Jin-ho confessed through social media that he borrowed a large amount of money from friends such as Jimin of BTS and Soo-geun Lee as well as from a loan company to engage in illegal online gambling, and the damage is estimated at around 2.3 billion won.

Jinho Lee, from Jangan-myeon, Hwaseong-si, said he started playing games on an illegal internet gambling site in 2020. Illegal online gambling is so prevalent in our society that incidents involving famous celebrities and sports stars involved in illegal online gambling are frequently reported. As a result of this incident, Jin-ho Lee has actually entered the process of being expelled from the entertainment industry, and Hwaseong City announced that it has “dismissed Jin-ho Lee as public relations ambassador,” who had been appointed for a two-year term in March of last year.

Reports of illegal online gambling have nearly tripled over the past four years. In other words, according to data received from the Gambling Industry Integrated Supervision Committee by Min Hyeong-bae, a member of the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, a member of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, a total of 39,082 reports of illegal online gambling were reported last year. This is an increase of approximately 2.99 times compared to the number of reports in 2019, which was 13,064.

As of 2022, the total illegal gambling amount is approximately 102 trillion won. By type, online gambling is the most common at 36.51%, and the amount exceeds 37 trillion won. However, the monitoring budget and manpower are actually decreasing.

It was drastically reduced by about 41.7% from KRW 1.87 billion in 2019 to KRW 1.052 billion last year, and increased again by 35.5% to KRW 1.426 billion this year, but online illegal gambling is rapidly increasing even with this budget. It is not enough to block.

The government was reported to be preparing a special law led by the ‘Pan-Government Response Team to Eradicate Online Illegal Gambling’, which was launched in November last year with the participation of 9 ministries including the Ministry of Justice. However, as the law has not yet been enacted, illegal online gambling continues to spread. there is. Currently, there is no legal basis for blocking accounts used for illegal gambling, so crackdowns are limited. A special law must be enacted as soon as possible to not only block the accounts of operators used to create new gambling sites, but also stop phone numbers used to establish gambling crimes.

Considering the recent increase in the number of youth accessing illegal online gambling sites using smartphones, the government and National Assembly are requesting that the related budget be increased and punishment regulations be strengthened, and at the same time, the government and the National Assembly quickly prepare a special law to eradicate illegal online gambling. I urge you.

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