UAE arrests three Koreans in $2.3B gambling case tied to former Premier League shirt sponsor

Three South Korean suspects linked to illegal gambling websites that handled a combined 3.1 trillion won (US$2.3 billion) in bets have been arrested in the United Arab Emirates.

Two of them, the ring's alleged second-in-command and a software developer, were repatriated through Incheon International Airport on Oct. 14, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. South Korean authorities are still negotiating with the UAE over the return of the alleged ringleader.

The alleged ringleader and deputy fled South Korea in 2016 and ran gambling websites that handled 2.6 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in bets from countries including the Philippines and Malaysia, the government's interagency task force on transnational crime said.

The pair are also suspected of using the UAE as a base to evade investigators and launder criminal proceeds.

The developer is suspected of building software for a separate ring that handled about 500 billion won ($372 million) in bets through five illegal websites. That ring's alleged leader was repatriated from the UAE in July.

The task force, which brings together the National Police Agency and the National Intelligence Service, tracked the suspects to the UAE and ran the arrest operation with local authorities under the codename Halak, an Arabic word for destruction.

While on the run, the suspects lived lavishly, inviting prominent South Koreans to visit and frequenting upscale entertainment venues, the task force said.

A floodlit football stadium during a match. Illustration photo by Howard Bouchevereau/Unsplash

In 2016, the alleged ringleader and deputy advertised BetEast, a sports betting site illegal in South Korea, on the shirts of Swansea City, then a Premier League club, and inside its stadium, the newspaper reported.

Swansea announced the sponsorship in June 2016 as the biggest front-of-shirt deal in its history, describing BetEast as an Asian online betting brand.

A Korean-language advertisement for the site appeared during Swansea's Premier League match against Chelsea in September 2016, broadcaster SBS reported.

The broadcaster also reported that the alleged ringleader, surnamed Kim, used a Vanuatu passport to take on a new identity. It said the task force was set up in 2025 after a South Korean university student died in Cambodia.

President Lee Jae Myung thanked the UAE and its president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for their cooperation in a post on X written in Korean and Arabic, The Korea Herald reported.

Lee said the suspects had allegedly recruited even middle school students into criminal activities and used passports issued by third countries to hide their identities.

He wrote that "criminals cannot escape punishment simply by hiding abroad."