“Player enter!”
When I entered the live broadcast of a YouTube channel around 3 a.m. on the 29th, the casino dealer began shuffling the cards. The game began when the streamer sitting across from the dealer extended his hand and accepted the card. On the live screen, chats shouting ‘all in’ continued to rise and fall. This is a YouTube channel that broadcasts live illegal online gambling ‘Baccarat’. When the streamer finished one round of the game, the stake amounts raised by participants, such as 5 million won and 10 million won, were displayed above the chat window.
Recently, so-called ‘proxy gambling’ content is rampant on YouTube, where streamers participate in games with stakes placed by viewers. The video is believed to be being broadcast from casinos around Southeast Asia, and is gaining great popularity as it makes players feel immersed as if they are participating in a real game.
On the 28th, a live broadcast of illegal gambling, believed to have been filmed at a casino in Southeast Asia, is being broadcast live. [이미지출추=유튜브 화면 캡처]
Proxy gambling videos are becoming more prevalent as it gets closer to late at night. In fact, about 670 viewers flocked to the YouTube baccarat live broadcast at around 1 a.m. on the same day. When the streamer encouraged a positive response by broadcasting baccarat in real time, viewers responded by saying, “The game looks fun” and “I want to participate.”
Videos like these are randomly exposed to viewers through YouTube’s algorithm. Even if you do not search or look for illegal gambling yourself, it can be exposed on broadcast without warning and attract viewers. Although the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), a management and supervisory body, is making all-out efforts to crack down on it, it is not easy to completely eradicate it.
A total of 53,086 cases of illegal gambling information were requested by the National Security Commission for correction from the beginning of this year to last month. This figure is equivalent to the total number of requests for correction last year (55,610). The number of cases of illegal gambling content that the Gambling Industry Integrated Supervision Committee (Comprehensive Gambling Supervisory Commission) requested review by the National Security Commission also increased significantly from 17,462 cases in 2021 to 37,390 cases last year.
Some point out that the problem is that it is difficult to immediately block illegal content due to the nature of the review process of the National Security Commission. Under the current law, in the case of gambling and other illegal contents, it takes a long time to block them because face-to-face meetings are held during the review process of the National Security Commission. This is in contrast to digital sex crimes, which are reviewed through electronic documents and take an average of one day to take corrective action. During the delay, illegal content producers frequently change their URL addresses to avoid the crackdown network.
The political world also recognized this problem and proposed the so-called ‘Illegal Site Elimination Act’, which introduces an electronic review system for gambling content. The amendment proposed by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seung-soo as a representative aims to immediately block illegal gambling sites and content producers through regular deliberation by the National Defense Commission to prevent them from frequently bypassing addresses.
An official from the National Security Commission said, “We are making efforts to eradicate illegal gambling, including discussing ways to cooperate with the National Audit Commission on the 10th to respond to illegal gambling sites.” He added, “If the electronic review system is introduced for all illegal content, the time it takes to take corrective action will also decrease.” “It looks like it will be much shorter than it is now,” he explained.
Reporter Lee Ji-eun jelee0429@asiae.co.kr
