North Korean Online Casinos Make $800m Per Year

North Korea has some of the world’s strictest laws, even limiting its people to one of 28 state-approved haircuts. But it seems that they have nothing against online gambling as long as their government is making money.

Reports claim that North Korean online casinos made over $800 million last year. This comes as somewhat of a shock, considering that the country threatens citizens with death if they’re caught gambling online.

Yu Dong-yeol, director of the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy, revealed this information at a South Korean security council. Yu said that their reports show Pyongyang earning $866 million off their online gambling operation in 2015.

It’s doubtful that North Korean internet casinos are regulated in any part of the world, making these sites illegal, or, at best, operating in grey areas. However, it’s doubtful that the isolated nation cares much about violating laws in any regulated iGaming market.

United Press International (UPI) reports that North Korea is also dedicating more resources to computer hacking, boasting 6,000 hackers at this time.

Cho Hyun-chun, chief of South Korea’s Defense Security Command, explained at the conference that North Korea’s cyber attacks are evolving and becoming bolder.

North Korean cyber attacks have roots in the 1990s, when Pyongyang gathered engineers to hack into other foreign computers. But they’ve since grown their corp of hackers to become one of the largest in the world, often aiming their attacks at South Korean government and financial institutions.

They’ve been blamed for the Sony hack, which was carried out in retaliation to The Interview, a comedy about two reporters assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The attack released a number of private and sensitive emails from Sony’s top brass, which fueled Sony Chairperson Amy Pascal getting fired at the end of 2015.

So far, little has been done to stop either the cyber attacks or potential online gambling violations. North Korea has poor diplomatic relations with most countries, except for China and Pakistan.

If North Korea’s $866 million iGaming operation is violating any regulated markets, it’s unlikely that the situation will be resolved any time soon.

Furthermore, Pyongyang welcomes the money because they are one of the world’s poorest countries, due to the excessive amount that they put into their military budget.