Online Gambling Ring Busted

February 6, 2008

The International and Serious Crimes Unit detectives, along with the elite Gidonim Unit have cracked down on an illegal online gambling web site. Seven people were arrested and 18 more detained for questioning for allegedly being part of the ring. The Israel Police’s Lahave 433’s Unit said that they had been tracking the online gambling ring.

They say that the online gambling ring was operating for some time, and that millions of shekels per year were “laundered” through the operation. They raided the suspects’ homes, as well as businesses that were tied to the operation and they found damning evidence of an illegal online gambling operation.

They said that they received a tip that the Play 2 Bet web site had been offering illegal online gambling, so they started watching the site. The money came through their company and then was routed through K.G. Money Changers, and then laundered overseas and within the country.

They also think that some of the money that was run through the illegal online gambling operation was profits from other illegal enterprises that the owners were running. They said that to gain access to the site they had to be allowed onto the “closed” list, then given a person log-in name and password. They had to make large deposits to cover their bets, and then they were allowed access.

They would send messengers to the homes of those people participating in the illegal online gambling operation to pick up cash from them – and no credit cards were accepted. Although mostly sports related, the site was in fact, illegal.





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