North Korea’s rich entrepreneurs, known as donju, are increasingly betting large sums of money on games featuring former professional athletes hired for the purpose. Wagering foreign currency on betting events has become a new leisure activity for this class of North Korean society.
“Donju hires former table tennis players from the national team to form doubles teams with them to compete in betting events. Typically, USD 1,000 changes hands in each match,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, the reason why former national table tennis players stoop to taking part in betting games is that there are few ways to make a living after their sports careers are over.
No matter how talented a player is or how many awards he has won, most of them have to work as coaches or physical education teachers in schools after retiring from sports. Such jobs provide meager rations, often leaving them in severe financial straits, the source said.
As a result, these former athletes are reluctant to turn down well-paid offers from donju to participate in betting events.
“The donju covers all the costs associated with the competition, while the athlete not only participates in the game but also works as the donju’s trainer. If the donju and the athlete can get along, they can earn some pretty good prize money, so the athletes are happy with the arrangement as well,” the source said.
Earlier this month, a former athlete caused a stir when he drove up to a table tennis betting game in Yomju County, North Pyongan Province, apparently in his own car and wearing a digital watch worth USD 250. The athlete had apparently made considerable money from gambling.
Even ordinary people are trying to get into the action
The source said it has also become more common for ordinary North Koreans to place bets on betting games or to pay a fee to compete themselves. These trends are apparently due to the lack of recreational facilities available to the general public.
“There is a serious lack of sports facilities available to ordinary people in North Korea. Schools, organizations, and companies have fields for ball games such as soccer, basketball, and volleyball, but these facilities are only open to members of the organizations and not to the general public,” the source said.
Billiard halls and table tennis clubs began to appear in the 2000s as private businessmen invested in recreational facilities. But these are private facilities that must be rented by the hour.
The entrepreneurs who ran ping-pong halls and other sports facilities began selling alcohol to promote their businesses. This gradually led to a culture of casual betting on games over alcohol and other beverages. More recently, these venues have hosted full-fledged betting events with bets running into the thousands of dollars.
According to the source, these betting table tennis matches are played as best of five games, with a winning score of 11 points per game. There are even bookmakers who arrange the matches and take a cut of the winnings, showing that the betting events have reached a high level of sophistication.
“Young people and even teenagers often watch and bet on these games. This kind of vulgar entertainment seems to be spreading because people don’t have access to decent recreational facilities,” the source said.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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