Pro basketball coach probed for fixing game
By Nam Hyun-woo
Jeon Chang-jin
A professional basketball team’s head coach is under investigation for allegedly rigging a game involving his team in connection with an illegal online bet.
According to Seoul Jungbu police, Anyang KGC head coach Jeon Chang-jin has allegedly bet hundreds of millions of won against his own team on an illegal sports betting website while he was coaching the KT Sonicboom during the 2014-2015 season. After the season, he moved to his current team.
Police suspect Jeon had substituted second-tier players during decisive moments of a number of games in February and March.
The Sonicboom finished the season in seventh place.
The police found that Jeon had bet at least 300 million won ($273,000).
Two persons were detained for allegedly helping Jeon borrow the money from a loan shark.
The loan shark told police that he loaned money not just to Jeon, but others.
An official at KGC said that they are not aware of Jeon's whereabouts. Police have issued a travel ban and will likely summon him in the near future.
The Korea Basketball League (KBL) Tuesday said, “The KBL is deeply regretful for being embroiled in a disgraceful allegation again,” pledging to take the strongest measures possible should the allegations against Jeon be confirmed.
This is just the latest scandal to beset the KBL.
In August 2013, former Dongbu Promy head coach Kang Dong-hee was sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined 47 million won for manipulating games in 2011. He was later banned for life from the KBL.
Other professional sports also suffered a number of match-fixing scandals involving active players or coaches in recent years.
In 2012, two players of the Korea Baseball Organization's LG Twins were convicted for their collusion with fixers, and 16 professional volleyball players were also investigated and received lifetime bans for involvement in game manipulation.
Professional football was also hit hard in 2011, with some 52 players indicted for participating in large-scale match fixing.
On May 22, a court convicted a man in his 40s for coaxing a number of players into the scheme.
E-sports also suffered huge damage with a number of its professional gamers, including Ma Jae-yoon, banned from Korea e-Sports Association for life for manipulation. Ma was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years in April 2010.
The only legal way of sports gambling in Korea is Sports Toto, operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The upper betting limit is set at 100,000 won per game and a bettor can wager up to six times a day.