Newly-signed Cardinals reliever Seung Hwan Oh was fined 10 million won ($8.300) on Tuesday for breaking South Korean gambling laws by betting heavily at a Macau casino.
Gambling laws in South Korea are strict and they allow only one domestic casino for local players, while 16 others only admit foreigners. South Koreans are banned from betting large sums of money at other places than the designated local casino.
Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Lim Chang-Yong, Oh’s former teammate was also fined the same amount, it was reported at the Seoul Central District Court via Daily Mail.
This wasn’t the first time former teammates from the Samsung Lions were fined for gambling as they were punished by the Korean Baseball Organization with half-season bans after prosecutors charged them for betting around 40 million won ($33.000) each at a casino in Macau back in 2014.
Oh, 33, signed a one-year contract with a club option for a second year with the Cardinals earlier this month.
In 498 career games in South Korea and Japan, Oh is 32-20 with a 1.81 ERA and 772 strikeouts in 646 1/3 innings. He was a member of the gold medal-winning 2008 South Korean Olympic team and represented the country in the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
