A South Korean court has rejected the appeal lodged by a former baseball pitcher who was convicted for engaging in an illegal online gambling operation.

An Ji-Man, a former pitcher for the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), was indicted in September last year over allegations that he gave KRW160 million (US$146,000) to a friend who went on to launch an illegal betting site.

In February, An was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.

The former pitcher appealed the ruling, but the Daegu District court said An deserved the initial sentence “based on court testimonies and other evidence,” Yonhap News Agency reported.