Blacklisted And Banned Due To Gambling Scandal, A TV Star Reverses His Fortune Using The Same Cards

A popular star who once had to leave the entertainment industry over a gambling scandal has now re-emerged in the public eye as a professional poker player.

The star in question is Gong Ki Tak, a once-beloved comedian belonging to the 12th class of KBS‘s open audition comedians.

Gong made a flashy debut in 1995 as an officially recruited comedian after winning the Grand Prize at the KBS College Comedy Festival. However, his career came crashing down in 2013 when he became embroiled in a massive illegal gambling scandal involving private sports betting that rocked the entire entertainment industry.

At that time, a host of famous celebrities, including Lee Soo Geun, Tak Jae Hoon, and Tony Ahn, were caught in the crackdown against this gambling. However, Gong’s public image took the hardest hit after he was revealed to have bet a total of 1.79 billion KRW— the biggest amount recorded in this scandal.

Following this incident, Gong was sentenced to six months in prison with one year of probation. He was practically ousted from the industry and placed on a blacklist, banning him from appearing on terrestrial television.

After spending 13 years out of the public eye due to his gambling scandal, Gong Ki Tak made his first reappearance on comedian Kim Sook‘s YouTube channel in a video where he was reunited with his fellow KBS comedians, Hong Seok Cheon, Lee Jang Sook, and Kim Sook himself.

Lee Jang Sook then brought up the recent whereabouts of Gong, surprising everyone by revealing that he had become a “gambler” after trying out his hand at other jobs. However, Gong Ki Tak chimed in immediately, drawing a clear distinction between gambling and his current job. “I’m not a gambler, I am a professional poker player,” he explained, while proudly stating that he was one of the very few people in Korea who are officially registered in their profiles as “professional poker players.”

Elaborating on his career trajectory, Gong mentioned that he has focused all his efforts on the mind sport of Hold’em, a variant of poker, and has successfully won championship trophies at various international tournaments.