Golden Crown Casino in Daegu Investigated for Fraudulent Operations

Golden Crown Daegu Casino is being investigated by South Korean authorities on suspicion of manipulating games and defrauding its customers, according to local media website Breaknews.

Casino License under Threat

Golden Crown Casino at Hotel Inter-Burgo in Daegu Metropolitan City, the third-largest urban agglomeration in Korea after Seoul and Busan with over 2.5 million residents, is being probed for implementing fraudulent dealer techniques to rig the outcome of games and swindle money from its international customers.

The casino is one of 16 land-based gambling establishments in South Korea which serve international clients only as by law residents are allowed to gamble only in the Kangwon Land Casino located 80 miles away from the capital Seoul in the Gangwon Province.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the regulatory body for the casino industry in the country, informed the reporting local media that on April 29, the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office’s violent crime detective department raided Golden Crown Daegu Casino and seized evidence of fraudulent gambling operations.

Following the analysis of the seized items, prosecutors summoned casino officials and later on extended the scope of the investigation to include embezzlement and breach of trust. If allegations prove to be true, Golden Crown Daegu Casino is facing severe sanctions, including revoking the casino’s operating license as this would not be the first fraudulent gambling case of the casino.

In June 2014, the casino was found to be implementing fraudulent dealer tactics and one dealer was sent to jail for three-and-a-half years while other 12 employees, who pleaded guilty, were sanctioned with community service and fines. The investigation confirmed Golden Crown had hired a dealer capable of fraudulent dealing techniques and the dealer’s shoe machine was specifically built to facilitate the fraud.

Industry’s Call for Dedicated Regulation

The media cited an unnamed official from the country’s gambling industry, who called on authorities responsible for the sector to take the necessary steps and prevent this “act of tarnishing the international image of all casinos in Korea.”

“It is urgent to establish a separate casino supervisory body at the Integrated Supervisory Committee for the gambling industry, which regulates the legal gambling industry,” the casino industry official added.

Golden Crown Daegu Casino registered total revenue of KRW19.05 billion ($15 million) in 2021 to register an increase of 9.7% on KRW17.36 billion ($13.68 million) in the year before.

The casino accounted for 2021operating profit of KRW3.43 billion ($2.7 million) and a 2021 net profit of KRW1.77 billion ($1.4 million), an increase of 39% and 22% on the respective readings in the prior year.