Korean Confucianism’s philosophical foundation places moral responsibility, diligence and work ethic at the center of social cohesion. Within this context, gambling represents unearned wealth, which runs against the collective framework on which Korean society is based and calls for shame for the individual. By contrast, in the West, gambling is viewed as a matter of personal freedom and leisure. As a result, the Korean government maintains a general ban on legal gambling, with only limited avenues available to Korean nationals. Public stigma is the reason for the surprisingly limited growth of legal betting, which is suppressed by systematic scrutiny of gambling and speculation. Whether social stigma disciplines the already speculative culture or simply fuels it is up for debate, but the result is a culture with pent-up demand for an outlet. It is similar to the situation the U.S. faced in the 1930s during the Prohibition era, when the U.S. government banned alcohol outright. In the end, the government decided that Prohibition encouraged illegal drinking and funded organized crime t