Received Another 100 Million Won Due to Casino Staff Error After Settlement... First Ruling Overturned, Found Guilty on Appeal

Chuncheon District Court Sentences to 1 Year in Prison, 2 Years Probation

"Cannot Have Been Unaware the Money Was Already Exchanged for Chips"

The verdicts of the first trial and the appeal were divided over a man in his 30s who, despite already having exchanged 100 million won entrusted to a casino for gaming chips, used the same amount of money again due to an employee's mistake.

According to Yonhap News Agency on September 24, the Criminal Division 1-1 of Chuncheon District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Geun-young) overturned the first court's acquittal and sentenced Mr. A (38), who was charged with embezzlement, to one year in prison with two years of probation. The court also ordered 80 hours of community service.

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Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of using 100 million won in cash, which he received by mistake from a casino employee in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province, in April 2024, for personal purposes such as debt repayment, instead of returning it.

At the time, Mr. A had entrusted 100 million won to the casino and converted a receipt for safekeeping of cash into gaming chips. The settlement for this amount had already been completed. However, the incident began when an employee, unaware of the settlement, found the company’s safekeeping receipt and mistakenly gave Mr. A 100 million won again.

The Yeongwol Branch of Chuncheon District Court, which handled the first trial, judged that it was difficult to assume Mr. A was aware the money had already been settled when he received the additional 100 million won. This was based on the fact that he had deposited a total of 368 million won at the casino, received cash safekeeping receipts in several installments, and exchanged them into chips multiple times. The court further explained that, as the casino failed to provide any confirming materials when later notifying Mr. A of their mistake, there was a lack of evidence that Mr. A had any intention to embezzle at the time he spent the money, thus ruling him not guilty.

The appellate court, which reconsidered the prosecution's opposition to the verdict, focused on the transaction records showing that Mr. A exchanged the entire amount for chips every time he was issued a cash safekeeping receipt. With this in mind, and noting that the contentious 100 million won receipt was converted into chips in full within just three minutes of issuance, the court concluded that Mr. A could not have been unaware that he had already turned the 100 million won into chips.

Mr. A claimed that he was in a daze at the time because he had not slept for three days and two nights playing games at the casino. However, the court did not accept this argument, pointing out, among other things, that the VIP gaming room closes at 6 a.m. every day. In addition, the fact that Mr. A reportedly said, “I don’t think this is mine,” before accepting the money from the employee, was also cited as a basis for finding him guilty.

The appellate court pointed out several aggravating factors: the embezzled amount was substantial, Mr. A spent the money soon after receiving it, the employee in charge at the victimized company appears to have suffered greatly due to the embezzlement, and no agreement was reached between Mr. A and the victimized company. In explaining the sentencing, the court said, “We took into account that the defendant repaid approximately 77 million won over several occasions between September last year and August this year, and that he has no prior convictions for property crimes.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.