Police are requesting a “strict punishment.”
Koreaboo
A 24-year-old male idol is currently under investigation, with police requesting an indictment and “strict punishment” from prosecutors.
Tsurubo Shion is a member of JO1, a J-Pop boy group formed through the first season of Produce 101 Japan by Lapone Entertainment. The group is composed of eleven members, including Shion, who made the cut on Produce 101 Japan. They debuted on March 4, 2020, and are the first permanent group to be formed through the show.
Shion is being investigated for allegedly engaging in illegal gambling online, beginning in December of 2023. “I became obsessed with online gambling for a while,” he said, “because it’s so easy to access with a smartphone.” The idol, who admitted to the allegation, told police that he wasn’t fully aware that online gambling was illegal.
Shion said that he stopped gambling on the foreign online casino site, K8, around August of 2024, after he learned through the news that gambling on these sites is not legal. By that time, Shion had already deposited ¥15 million yen (approximately $104,114 USD) on the site and lost about ¥7.1 million yen (approximately $48,591 USD). In particular, Shion is suspected of using K8 on his smartphone to play roulette between May 31 and June 27 last year.
Police, who submitted papers on the idol to prosecutors on June 16, discovered Shion’s online gambling while investigating another case.
