The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday that it is not considering banning consumers from purchasing lottery tickets with cash.
This comes as news outlets reported that Korea’s gambling regulators were moving to prohibit consumers from buying tickets with cash by adopting the electronic card payment system in an effort to prevent gambling addiction.
The Finance Ministry said that the media reports were “untrue and that it is not considering banning cash payments for lotteries.”
Electronic cards were adopted by the National Gaming Control Commission, a regulatory agency that is part of the Prime Minister’s Office, for horse-racing punters, who can place bets with a limited amount of money deposited into cards to prevent addiction. The limit is set by the regulator in accordance with an individual’s gambling behavior.
The Finance Ministry, however, said that the Lottery Commission has launched a feasibility study to evaluate the economic benefits of adopting such an electronic card system in line with the NGCC’s plan to expand the use of the cards in the gaming and entertainment industry.
By Park Hyong-ki (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)
