South Korea Detains 12 in Illegal iGaming Operation

South Korean cyber police in Ulsan detained and referred 12 members of a group operating an unnamed illegal iGaming platform to prosecutors, according to a report by The Chosun Daily. Police issued international red notices through Interpol for five additional suspects, including a foreign leader who fled to Thailand. All 17 individuals involved range in age from 20 to 39.

According to police, the group accepted approximately $43.4 million in bets between November 2022 and July 2025, generating an estimated $2.2 million in illegal profit. The group attracted players through staged YouTube livestreams featuring regularly scripted large wins, artificially inflating view counts and real-time viewer numbers using self-developed software to push promotional videos to the top of the platform's search and recommendation algorithms. Members divided responsibilities among themselves, covering product management, customer service, and fund withdrawal and laundering. To evade detection, the group rented offices in Ulsan and Incheon, periodically changing locations. Police seized approximately $2.2 million in assets belonging to the group's leaders, including real estate, vehicles, and bank deposits, to secure eventual confiscation.

The case highlights the use of manipulated streaming platforms and algorithm exploitation as a recruitment tool for illegal gambling operations, adding to a series of recent South Korean enforcement actions against unlicensed iGaming operators employing increasingly sophisticated methods to attract and retain players.