An important message regarding child protection in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Community. Some may find the following content disturbing.
YGOrganization has received reports that Carl Crook, the CEO of Hazam Games Ltd. and former administrator of Yu-Gi-Oh! in the UK and Ireland, has been jailed on child sex charges stemming from events that occurred between 2004 and 2008. In light of this, we at YGOrg must make some things abundantly clear;
- It goes without saying the Konami and all its subsidiaries in no way endorse or support paedophilia and would not consciously allow a known sex offender to work with children in any capacity.
- These events happened between 2004 and 2008. Hazam Games was not in charge of Yu-Gi-Oh! in the UK during these times, and to our knowledge these actions did not take place at any Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG sanctioned events.
- Upperdeck Entertainment was in charge of TCG distribution during the years the events in question transpired, NOT Konami.
- To the best of our knowledge, no other parties were involved or aware of this, and this comes as a great surprise to the entire UK Yu-Gi-Oh! Community.
- Hazam Games relinquished the contract for Yu-Gi-Oh! in the UK over to Quickplay Games Ltd. in November of 2014. The arrest occurred during December, and as far as we are aware of, had nothing to do with the game changing hands to Quickplay.
- The actions of an individual in no way reflect the Yu-Gi-Oh! Community as a whole; the majority of players have no malicious intent and parents can be assured that tournament officials will make every effort to protect your children.
This news has come as a shock to the entire community as a whole, and it is of paramount importance that children are protected from predators, not only at Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG events, but at all times. YGOrganization takes a vehement opposition to the sexual, emotional and physical exploitation of all human beings, and as such we implore our users to report any tournament official, player, or store owner that is found to be taking part in these actions.
In light of these revelations, we at YGOrganization feel that it is only right for us to do our part in protecting both our users and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Community, and below we have listed contact information and URLs for child protective services in all areas covered by KDE TCG.
United Kingdom:
National Service for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Tel: 0808 800 5000 (0800 1111 for under 18s)
United States of America:
Child Welfare Services
URL: https://www.childwelfare.gov/
Tel: 1.800.4.A.CHILD (1.800.422.4453)
Canada:
Canadian Centre for Child Protection
URL: https://www.protectchildren.ca/app/en/
Tel: (204) 945-5735, (800) 532-9135
Mainland Europe:
Protection of Minors EU
URL: http://www.protection-of-minors.eu/index_en.html
Tel: +49 30 400 40 300
Australia:
Department for Child Protection and Family Support
URL: http://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
Tel: 1800 622 258
All calls are anonymous and your information will not be passed on to any third parties. If you have any other additions to this last, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
