A South Korean appeals court has convicted a gambler of embezzlement for spending KRW100 million ($73,000) that a casino in Jeongseon mistakenly paid him a second time, overturning his earlier acquittal.
The Chuncheon District Court on September 24th sentenced the 38-year-old to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and 80 hours of community service, Korean daily Kyunghyang Shinmun reported.
Korean reports did not name the operator, but Jeongseon County’s only casino is Kangwon Land, the sole casino in South Korea open to Korean nationals.
According to the reports, the man deposited KRW368 million ($269,000) at the casino in several transactions in April 2024 and converted the resulting receipts into chips. An employee later paid out one KRW100 million receipt again in cash, which he spent.
The court’s Yeongwol branch had acquitted him, saying it could not be established that he knew the amount was already settled.
The appeals court disagreed, citing transaction records showing he converted each receipt fully into chips within minutes. It also noted his own remark on receiving the cash: “This doesn’t seem to be mine.”
The court rejected his claim that he was drowsy after days of gambling without sleep.
The man has repaid about KRW77 million ($56,000).
