It’s so unfair that life for the operators of the magnificent amusement machine game Sea Story has turned sour. When it should be more like ‘life’s a beach’, operators of game parlours in South Korea are now involved in a sob story that really can make grown men weep. Writing from Seoul, one of the operators said: “I believed the business was sound and poured all my fortune into it. But now I owe 1.37 billion won (US$1.5M) in tax and have a 130 million won (US$138K) debt.”

Like in Brazil, when President Lula issued an executive order to close bingos after allegations of corruption by his close aides hit the fan, in Korea President Roh Moo-hyun also brought out a sledge hammer to crack a nut after one of his nephews and entourage were found to be involved in illegal gambling business. In 2006, the South Korea Government declared the Sea Story game illegal. (Bada Iyag).

Last Tuesday a total of 19 former Sea Story video slot machine operators lodged a lawsuit against the government with the Seoul Central District Court, alleging the government's inconsistent regulations left them bankrupt. The suit claims that the South Korean government, which had once encouraged people to invest in the business, levied heavy taxes on them and outlawed Sea Story when public sentiment turned against the gambling business.

In the lawsuit the operators claim: “Korea Media Ranking Board authorized it (Sea Story) as a game, but later the board classed it under gambling, confiscated slot machines and shut down the business in the end. It is an act violating property rights.” Local Korean citizens, who can access and gamble in only one of the country’s casinos, were allowed to gamble in the amusement rooms that paid with tokens on limited betting video games such as Sea Story. (E-02.07.08)

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