Supreme Court: “Selling overseas lottery tickets domestically is illegal”… Buyers are also punished

The Supreme Court ruled that foreign lottery tickets, such as the U.S. Powerball, should not be sold domestically through unmanned terminals or online. The government has decided to strengthen online and offline surveillance of overseas lottery distributors and sellers to prevent additional damage to the public.

According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on the 20th, the Supreme Court confirmed on the 26th of last month the original decision that imposed a fine of 5 million won on a company that installed a kiosk to allow overseas lottery tickets to be purchased domestically. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance explained, “With this, it has been confirmed that not only the sale of overseas lottery tickets through kiosks, but also the sale of overseas lottery tickets online, such as on websites and mobile apps, is illegal.”

Previously, in January 2021, the Gambling Industry Integrated Supervision Committee under the Prime Minister’s Office believed that selling overseas lottery tickets through kiosks was illegal and requested the police to investigate. In Korea, the lottery is a state business and cannot be run by individuals or companies. Nevertheless, at that time, kiosks for purchasing American lottery tickets, such as Powerball, with astronomical winning prizes were popping up all over the country.

As of September 20th of this year, the Committee understands that two companies have installed a total of 379 overseas lottery kiosks. Many overseas lottery kiosks were installed mainly in metropolitan areas, including Gyeonggi (95), Seoul (77), and Incheon (30).

In addition to strengthening online and offline surveillance, the government has decided to carry out promotional activities to spread the word that selling and purchasing overseas lottery tickets is illegal. Illegal lottery tickets can subject not only the seller but also the buyer to punishment. A government official said, “If you discover overseas lottery sales online or offline, you can report it to the nearest police station, the Donghaeng Lottery Clean Reporting Center, or the Illegal Gambling Industry Surveillance Reporting Center of the National Audit Commission (online sales).”

Sejong = Reporter Song Hye-mi [email protected]