Esports star Faker becomes anti-gambling ambassador in South Korea

Lee Sang-hyeok, the professional South Korean "League of Legends" player known globally as Faker, has been appointed an honorary agent of the National Police Agency and an ambassador against electronic gambling in his home country. The esports icon received the rank of sergeant.

Faker will feature in promotional videos and posters created by the police to deter minors from engaging in online gambling. "I feel a great responsibility," Faker stated at the initiative's presentation, as reported by the South Korean newspaper Chosun.

According to Yoo Jae-seong, acting commissioner of the National Police Agency, Faker's public profile can positively influence teenagers. He is expected to encourage young people to use a new government program that allows them to report their own online gambling issues. Since the program's launch in mid-May, authorities have recorded 806 cases of underage gambling, reported by the minors themselves or their guardians, according to The Korea Herald.

Images released by the South Korean news agency Yonhap show Faker dressed in a police uniform, complete with a name tag bearing his gamer alias.

“

I feel a great responsibility