The South Korean horse racing body has pledged its support to campaigns to stamp out youth gambling addiction.
The Korea Racing Authority has sealed a cooperation agreement with the Gwacheon Youth Foundation Strengthen Cooperation on Youth Addiction Prevention, the South Korean newspaper Youngnong Shinmun reported.
The KRA said it will help create a platform that will help identify underage gamblers and provide counseling to at-risk youngsters.
The parties also agreed to co-launch gambling addiction prevention education programs, including “therapeutic horseback riding sessions.”
The KRA and the foundation said youth gambling and various other addiction issues are now emerging as social challenges. They said there was a need to create a cooperative system to protect local youths from these dangers.
South Korean Horse Racing Body to Fund Prevention Programs
The parties signed a memorandum of understanding to provide support to youngsters in the city of Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
Gwacheon is home to the 1.1 million sqm horse race track, LetsRun Park Seoul.
The KRA said it would also help fund several addiction prevention campaigns in the region.
The parties added that they would co-develop training sessions for counselors and hold workshops and professional advisory services.
They said new youth programs would make use of Gwacheon’s public spaces and other resources.
KRA officials said they would expand existing school-visit preventive education and counseling programs.
They also pledged further funding to U-Can, a Gwacheon-based addiction prevention center.
“We will work closely with the local community to create an environment where young people can grow up in a healthy environment,” said Jeong In-gyun, the KRA’s Head of Business Planning.
Horse Racing Popularity Rises
KRA officials said in 2024 that the number of people aged 20 to 39 visiting horse racing tracks in the country had more than doubled over just five years.
Youth gambling addiction and related crime rates are also on the rise in South Korea. Last month, the nation’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok told the South Korean gambling regulator to create a “safety net” for vulnerable children.
Earlier this year, the Korea Gambling Problem Prevention and Treatment Center warned that over 50% of school-age children in two provinces have seen or clicked on online gambling ads.
A leading lawmaker said in April that the financial cost of youth gambling-related problems in the nation has risen to the $1.4 billion mark.
Scores of children have also admitted to using stolen ID documents to gamble on Sports Toto platforms.
Sports Toto is a government-run sports pools betting platform. Anti-gambling advocates have warned that the platform has morphed into a “playground for betting-addicted teenagers.”
Earlier this month, legal experts warned South Koreans trading contracts on prediction markets they could face prosecution under gambling laws.
The experts were speaking after a Polymarket user won $160,000 by backing an underdog candidate in the Seoul mayoral election last week.
Most forms of gambling are illegal in South Korea, although reporters have recently discovered that a mostly underground poker scene is continuing to attract new players.
