[Courtesy of Hanshin Tigers]
Oh Seung-hwan, a promising free agent South Korean pitcher who aimed to advance to the Major League, admitted to overseas gambling charges on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old pitcher was charged the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office for gambling in Macau, last November. The charges were based on statements from the gambling house owner.
Oh was accused of gambling worth of hundreds of millions of Korean won. The prosecutors announced that they have secured entry logs to the casino as well as transaction records. The interrogation went on for five hours. Oh admitted burrowing chips worth large amount of money but he was not sure how much times he gambled and how much money was involved.
Oh is not the only one facing the overseas gambling charges. Lim Chang-yong, a pitcher of Lions, the former team of Oh, was accused of similar charges by the prosecutors. But Lim also claimed that the amount of money used in gambling stated by the gambling house owner is not right.
According to the prosecutors, the two may be indicted without physical detention if two players’ claims are proven.
It is likely for oh, under circumstances that he is not jailed, that he may have a way to advance on MLB. Yonhap News Agency reported that an official of MLB said that he doubted Oh’s charges could present a problem for MLB teams if the situation is sorted out quickly.
아주경제 박세진 기자 = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
