A slew of short track speed skaters and coaches have been charged with allegedly placing illegal bets on sports games online, the police said Thursday.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency said they have booked without physical detention 18 short track speed skaters and four former national team coaches on charges of regularly betting on sports games on illegal websites from January 2011 to February this year. The bets totaled 1 billion won (US$858,000) over the period with one former coach, only identified by the surname Baek, spending 400 million won.

Some of the skaters were competing in national team qualification for the 2016-17 season, and there was also a high school student among the suspects, the police added. One skater continued to gamble even after the investigation began, the police said.

The police said that each skater allegedly placed bets of up to 500,000 won on an illegal sports gambling website. They bet on odds on wins, ties and losses in football, baseball and basketball. The skaters and coaches told police that they started gambling after watching their teammates and friends also doing it on online.

The only legal form of sports betting in South Korea is through purchasing Sports Toto lottery tickets, which are also available online. Sports Toto offers odds on wins, ties, losses and final scores.

Police said that it will investigate other athletes and the operator of the online gambling sites. (Yonhap)