Kang Byung-Kyu Completes Sentence for Illegal Baccarat Gaming

On April 17th, 2009, baseball star turned television host Kang Byung-Kyu said that he had learned a lot while fulfilling his community service. Kang, who completed one hundred sixty hours of community service for disabled kid under a court order for his illegal gaming, stated he will be forever grateful for everything he have for the rest of his life. He added that he is now confident with his abilities to overcome any problems.

Kang Byung-Kyu said that he will reflect on the fact that he had never cared about the lives of other individuals beside from his own in the past. Helping out disabled kids was a wonderful experience and became a catalyst to re-examine his life. On February 5th, 2009, thirty-six year old Kang received a suspended jail sentence from the court for illegally playing online.

The Seoul Central District Court handed him a two year suspended jail sentence and one hundred sixty hours of community service. The court said that Kang Byung-Kyu wagered big amounts of money at online casino sites offering live baccarat games from a gambling house in the Philippines. The court added that Kang had visited one of the online sites five hundred times.

The court only handed down a mild punishment to Kang because he was the only victim of his baccarat losses, had no previous criminal record and had reflected on his transgressions. Kang was indicted by the Seoul Prosecutor's Office without physical detention on charges of betting 2.6 billion won or $1.8 million from October 2007 to May 2008.

Monday, May 04, 2009
Danny McCain