Gambling news from http://times.hankooki.com/
The prosecution is considering seizing from gambling parlors illegally reprogrammed video slot machines, which provide larger jackpot winnings than legally permitted, officials said Monday. About 60,000 such game machines are in operation at arcades around the country, according to police.
Prosecutors Sunday indicted the chief executives of two companies that manufacture and distribute the slot machine ``Pada Iyagi,'' or ``The Sea Story.'' These machines are suspected of being highly addictive. More than 45,000 are in use in the 15,000 game arcades nationwide that have gambling machines.
Also indicted were the developers of a similar slot machine game called ``Golden Castle'' and ``Mermaid Story.''
The recent controversy exploded into a national scandal when it was found that President Roh's nephew, Roh Ji-won, 43, worked as a managing director of Woojyun Systec, which was acquired by Zico Prime, the company distributing the Pada Iyagi game, in May this year.
``We have received direct orders from Prosecutor General Choung Sang-myoung to investigate the suspicions surrounding the distribution of the Pada Iyagi games and other illegal slot machines,'' said an official from the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office, hinting that the investigation could widen to cover allegations that public officials and some of the president's confidants were involved in the licensing of the games.
According to investigators, Pada Iyagi's developers manipulated memory systems of the game machines to allow jackpot winnings of more than 3 million won ($3,100), far above the legal limit of 20,000 won.
Under a law that regulates gambling for locals, people winning jackpots at gambling parlors are given gift certificates from the arcade's operators, as it is illegal to trade chips for real money.
However, with some arcade operators allowing the exchange of gift certificates, slot machine gambling has become an increasing concern for law enforcement authorities.
Prosecutors are planning to seize Pada Iyagi, Golden Castle and other illegally reprogrammed slot machine games from the country's 15,000 arcade-style gambling parlors around the country, should the court finds the indicted game developers guilty.
However, in considering the social concerns arising from the increase in gambling, prosecutors are also looking for legal grounds that could allow them to take possession of the game machines.
One of the alternatives discussed is just collecting the reprogrammed memory circuits of the slot machines, instead of taking away the whole unit. This approach would respect the property rights of the arcade owners.
The local market for arcade slot machines stood at two trillion won at the end of 2004, but reached nearly four trillion won last year, according to the state-run Korea Game Development and Promotion Institute.
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