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Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 08:47:04 -0500
From: "R. A. Hettinga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Laugh-out-Loud Funny: N Korea seals Net gambling venture
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http://technology.scmp.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=SCMP/Printacopy&aid=ZZZ6K35Z6ZC
Friday, March 29, 2002
N Korea seals Net gambling venture
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Pyongyang
North Korea, the most socialist of countries, has turned to the unlikely
arena of Internet gambling to promote a mass gymnastics exhibition being
touted as a global tourist attraction.
Although the Internet is virtually unknown in the Stalinist state, a joint
venture has been formed with a South Korean firm allowing overseas gamblers
to bet money through an online lottery based in the North.
The lottery - specifics of which remain sketchy - is aimed at promoting the
Arirang Festival, a huge-scale mass-entertainment display beginning in
Pyongyang next month.
Arirang organisers said they were keen to use the festival, which will see
100,000 people perform in Pyongyang's May 1 Stadium, as an attraction to
bring foreign tourists into the cash-strapped country.
The gambling venture would allow Internet users to log on to a North
Korean-based site and use credit cards to buy virtual instant lottery
cards, explained a statement released to foreign reporters allowed into
Pyongyang to view preparations for the Arirang event.
[...]
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