Hyundai Employees Caught Gambling at Online Casinos in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Co. held an internal audit and found out that 97 workers have played at online casinos in South Korea from their work computers. The company took disciplinary action against the workers in question over improper use of company property.

The audit was started in April following an anonymous tip which provided management with a list of employees on the production lines who were using office computers to bet on sports in South Korea, during work hours. 35 employees of Hyundai’s Asan plant were disciplined for gambling on the job, and another sixty two employees at the company’s main plant in Ulsan have already confessed and await punishment.

A company official had the following comments: “While the fact of cyber gambling was uncovered by an internal tip-off, the number of employees who gamble over the Internet at work appears to be higher (than reported figures).”

The report also stated that thirteen former and current union representatives were also gambling online during work hours. Hyundai has a rocky relationship with employee unions ever since the company cut down the number of full-time union representatives in compliance with new labor laws.

Earlier this month the Asan’s plant was closed for two days following a general strike after one employee committed suicide. The strike was called due to wide belief that management aggravated the situation needlessly thereby causing the 49-year-old union representative to hang himself in the factory’s toilet. It’s yet unknown whether the suicide is in any way connected to online gambling. His suicide note blames management for terminating his union position.

Although online casinos are not permitted to operate under current South Korean gambling laws, citizens wishing to play online can do so at a myriad of foreign-based sites. The government has made no indication that it will ever license and regulate online casinos in South Korea.