South Korean police have arrested five elderly citizens, including septuagenarians, after a raid on a suspected underground gambling den.
The South Korean broadcaster JTBC reported that officers from the Incheon Yeonsu District Police Station found individuals betting on go-stop games in the basement of a residential building.
Police did not reveal the identity of the arrestees, but said that one of the suspects was a woman in her 60s. A spokesperson said some of the other suspects were aged in their 70s.
Detectives said they carried out the raid at 3 p.m. KST on April 5, responding to a tip-off from a Yeonsu District resident.
Police said several people attempted to flee the scene, but said they had apprehended all suspects.
Officers said they seized a deck of hwatu cards, which are used for playing go-stop, at the scene. They also confiscated an undisclosed amount of cash.
South Korean Septuagenarians Face Gambling Wrap
Police say the property belongs to the woman. They say she used the property to “host gambling sessions.”
Gamblers paid her fees for each session they arranged, detectives said. The other four individuals were detained for questioning on gambling-related charges.
Police said the gamblers used rules under which losers paid winners 3,000 won ($2) per game, with an additional bonus of 1,000 won ($0.67) per point.
The group had played approximately 50 times prior to the raid, police said. Officers said they had charged all the suspects, but said the investigation was still ongoing.
Some of the suspects have a prior history of gambling offenses, police said, adding that the stakes involved were “substantial.”
Controversial Crackdowns
Police and prosecution service crackdowns on go-stop gambling have met with a mixed reaction.Last year, South Korean media pundits expressed dismay at prosecutors’ attempts to take the case of a 69-year-old man to the Supreme Court. The man is accused of gambling on go-stop games with his friends.
The man scooped a $79 pot and had agreed to use much of the money to buy fried chicken and beer for the same friends.
The pundits called the pot “pocket change.” And an octogenarian resident of Northern Seoul told CasinoBeats that the case seemed “quite frivolous for judges and public prosecutors to spend time and money on.”
However, some say gambling-related crime is becoming problematic in elderly communities. A media report from earlier this year noted that groups of retirees are congregating in Seoul parks to bet on board games like go and janggi, a game not unlike Chinese chess.
Media outlets from other parts of the country have found groups of elderly people gathering to gamble in unsafe buildings.
