Authorities in South Korea are threatening to impose life sentences on the operators of illegal online gambling sites and to press charges against all the sites’ customers.

On Friday, South Korean police officials announced a harsh new attitude towards online gambling operators. A National Police Agency spokesman told South Korean media that illegal operators would now be slapped with organized crime charges, which carry significantly higher penalties for convictions.

Previously, illegal online gambling operators were subject to charges of opening an illegal gambling place, which carried a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a KRW 70m (US $61k) fine. Under the new plan, site operators would be charged with ‘organizing a criminal group,’ which carries the possibility of life behind bars.

Police said the shift was appropriate, as many of the illegal gambling sites they take down are found to be run by organized crime rings. Software programmers and site managers would be labeled accomplices while web hosting services that knowingly accept business from gambling sites will be charged as abettors.