Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

After a three-month audit, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) on Thursday forwarded to the prosecution a list of 36 people, including former and incumbent government officials, who it said are involved in the video arcade gambling machine scandal, often dubbed ``Pada Iyagi,'' or ``Sea Story''. The 36 people include six former and incumbent officials of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and 13 officials of the state-funded Korea Media Rating Board (KMRB), which is under the control of the ministry. Between Aug. 21 and Oct. 29, the BAI dispatched some 30 officials to government agencies and video game manufacturers as well as to voucher distributors, who illegally allowed their customers to cash in their vouchers, called ``Culture Gift Certificates.'' ``The ministry officials were well aware that the video slot machines could be highly addictive and cause serious social problems, but they neglected their duty to regulate such illegal gambling machine parlors,'' a senior BAI official said in a press briefing. ``The KMRB officials have also approved more than 3,500 reel game machines since 1999, even though they knew that most of the games could be illegally reprogrammed to allow higher jackpot winnings than the legal limit of 20,000 won ($21) per game,'' he added. State auditors also found out some KMRB officials manipulated documents to expedite the application process for some 37 video game programs in September last year.

The gambling scandal erupted in August when prosecutors indicted the chief executives of the company that manufactured and distributed the Pada Iyagi machine. More than 45,000 units of the country's most popular video slot machine were sold.

The Roh Moo-hyun administration has been criticized for allowing tens and thousands of illegal gambling parlors, which have devastated the livelihood of low income families, nationwide.