UAE Extradition Exposes South Korea’s Gambling Credit Network
Suspect A, a man in his 40s, faces allegations of operating illegal online gambling businesses from bases in Southeast Asia. According to police in Daegu, A operated gambling sites using servers in the Philippines from December 2013 to August 2017. Those sites handled KRW1.3 trillion in wagers.
Game Credits Linked Hundreds of Sites
According to the investigators, the operation later expanded into supplying other gambling sites. Between April 2021 and December 2023, A allegedly supplied game credits to about 1,400 domestic gambling sites, whose customers then placed around KRW9 trillion in wagers.
The total is estimated to be about KRW10.3 trillion. According to the charges, the organization has earned KRW26 billion in illicit funds. It is also alleged that A personally gained KRW6 billion. A was referred to as a key supplier for South Korea’s underground gambling industry.
Operations Shifted Across Southeast Asia
After accomplices returning to South Korea were arrested, A allegedly moved the operation’s call centers between Malaysia, Cambodia, and other countries. Police also say that A used forged foreign passports while avoiding capture.
He was eventually caught in the United Arab Emirates. South Korea’s joint transnational crime task force worked with UAE authorities to locate and arrest him. He was extradited through Incheon International Airport on July 4. Daegu police sent him to prosecutors in custody on July 13 and announced the referral two days later.
This transnational crime response task force includes the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Intelligence Service.
Police Follow the Game Credit Trail
The case follows a cyber gambling crackdown that spanned over seven months beginning in November 2025. Police had been able to identify a total of 2,319 suspects in 1,746 cases and take 154 into custody. Police also froze suspected criminal assets totaling KRW107.2 billion. Some of the illegally operated sites are believed to employ similar technologies.
The Daegu police now intend to secure the assets connected to A and track down the domestic parties that got game credits from his network. These records may enable the investigators to link the sites that once appeared unrelated.