| | |  | Last Updated: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 |  | | | Gambling on the Internet Controlled by Lawmakers
- Monday, 31 Jul 2006
The South Korean government will soon require future Internet cafes to register when they open for business due to a decision recently made to tighten control over gambling services. At the moment, no licensing or registration is required in order to open an Internet café, better known as PC Bang in this country. Café operators will also be required to erase gambling betting programs from their computers in compliance with the governing Uri Party and government rules and regulations.
‘Opening game clubs is much easier than starting a drugstore these days,’ Rep. Kim Geun-tae, chairman of the Uri Party, said at a session with government officials. ‘I think it is not an issue that can be solved by making a complementary measure. We need to root it out now.’ The South Korean government’s crackdown on gambling over the Internet is planned to continue until late October, according to sources from the office of the Prime Minister. And the government will have to be strict if they are to go head-to-head with the extraordinary schemes planned by the Internet cafes to avoid these new gambling regulations.
The government, however, will have the authority to close businesses that violate these gambling regulations. To meet the purposes of eliminating the gambling services in PC Bangs, the Uri Party plans to revise relevant laws during the regular session of the National Assembly that opens in September. This will hurt the customer base, and overall business success of these Internet cafes, which will surely create friction and a true fight between the government and the private owners and operators of these Internet cafes.
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