Report: Elderly South Koreans Flocking to High-Fire Risk Gambling Dens

Elderly South Koreans are gathering to bet in clandestine gambling dens in Daebo Apartment complex in Daegu, the site of a devastating fire more than six years ago, a report has claimed.

The Daegu-based newspaper Maeil Shinmun reported that it has seen evidence that illegal gambling dens frequented by the elderly are “concentrated in older buildings” in the city that display “high fire risks.”

The newspaper wrote: “A significant number of these gambling dens are located in the Daebo Apartment complex. This raises serious concerns. A fire in a gambling den frequented by hundreds of elderly people could lead to a major safety incident. Many of these people are relatively immobile.”

Elderly Gambling Dens: High Fire-Hazard Levels

A massive fire broke out at a public sauna in the Daebo Apartment complex in February 2019. The blaze killed three people and injured 88 others.

Investigators said the fire started in the men’s sauna section, on the fourth floor of a seven-story building. Firefighters extinguished the fire around half an hour after arriving at the scene.

Maeil Shinmun reporter Nam Jeong-un wrote: “I visited commercial buildings in Daebo Apartment on November 16. I found that several fourth-floor corridors and stores had no sprinklers installed. The fourth floor of the building is home to a cluster of [illegal] establishments that cater to senior citizens.”

Nam added that the partition walls separating the rooms from the corridors are still “mostly made of fire-prone sandwich panels and wood.”

“While I saw fire extinguishers here and there, electrical outlets were covered with black dust. They pose a significant fire hazard,” the journalist wrote.

Fire Department Unconcerned

The commercial section of Daebo Apartment was built in July 1980. It is now over 45 years old. That means it is classified as an “aging building” under the terms of the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act Enforcement Decree.

The news outlet noted that, per 2018 fire safety protocols, a building like Daebo “must install sprinklers on all floors.”

It quoted experts as stating that a fire in the building “would likely result in a major disaster.”

Baek Chan-soo, a Professor in the Department of Fire Safety Management at Daegu Health College, said, “If a fire breaks out, the building materials will likely act as tinder. That will increase the scale of any damage. It may also be difficult for elderly people with limited mobility to […] evacuate the building via the stairs.”

Baek added: “In situations like these, where danger is clearly foreseeable, the relevant organizations should respond proactively.”

But a fire department official suggested that the worries were unfounded. The official said that the department concluded a routine inspection in September. Inspectors “determined that it was well equipped with the fire safety facilities required by the Fire Service Act,” the spokesperson added.

The official concluded: “If we find violations during future inspections, we will instruct the building managers to take additional safety measures.”

Earlier this month, South Korean police arrested almost 60 people on suspicion of providing money laundering services to illegal gambling firms. Officers think the group used money mules recruited from Telegram chat rooms.