North Korea lifts ban on horse race betting

The advent of horse racing betting in North Korea is described as a drastic policy change driven in part by limited access to foreign funds following International sanctions against the country as a consequence of its controversial Nuclear testing programme.

North Korea state-owned broadcaster Korea Central Television (KCTV) announced the change in which racegoers will be permitted to bet on horse races in a raffle or lottery-type format at leader Kim Jong Un’s leisure development, the Mirim Horse Riding Club.

North Korean’s as young as twelve-years-old will reportedly be permitted to place bets at the weekend races, a far cry from the previous sentence of three-years hard labor for gambling offenses.

“Kim has been pushing for vanity projects for a theme park and the horse riding club not to prop up people’s well- being, but to earn foreign currency,” commented Na Jeong-won, head of the North Korea Industry-Economy Research Institute in Seoul.

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