Korean Celebrity Busted

A television personality in Korea is facing some illegal online gambling charges. Online casinos are no place to be if it is illegal for you to be there. The former Korean baseball player turned television host, Kang Byung-kyu, is to be questioned very soon in regard to charges placed on him for allegedly gambling at an online casino. The Korea Times first broke the story about the scandal surrounding the host of the Korean television show “Vitamine”. The firm that is representing Byung-kyu says that the prosecution has no case and denies any accusations against their client. Unfortunately for Byung-kyu, the prosecution claims to have substantial evidence to convict him of the charges he faces.

This case seems to stem all the way back to a case brought forth when Korean authorities arrested four individuals who allegedly set up and were operating an illegal online casino in the Phillipines which broadcasted to Koreans. The online casino games in question were baccarat games. The tv host is not alone in this case, he is amongst 130 other users that were detected using the illegal gambling website. This is likely known because the website’s computer systems and data were seized earlier this year. This means that things are not looking good for the Korean celebrity, in matters of this case.

The illegal online casino had plenty of visitors whose winnings totaled over Won 100 billion in only 18 months of operation. The authorities claim that Byung-kyu deposited Won 1.6 billion, which in dollars equals $1.2 million. He reportedly only won back Won 1.2 billion, which totals out to be a loss of 400 million won. Online casinos are not the celebrity’s only problem. The television show in which he appears on released a statement that they are looking for a replacement due to the star’s appearance rate being too high for their current budget.