Two 2023 police raids at Mt Lawley and Cloverdale gambling dens helped authorities seize almost $190,000 in cash, along with gambling cards and chips usually found at Monte Carlo casinos.

The two underground locations used for illegal gambling were allegedly run by a number of Crown Casino workers. 

The casino chips and blocks of cash will be destroyed as police efforts continue toward targeting more underground venues. 

$130,000 Seized from Mount Lawley

Last April, police raided a Mount Lawley business where it seized close to $130,000 from an alleged illegal game, along with tens of thousands of dollars worth of casino chips, a baccarat table cover, and gaming cards.

An ex-Crown Perth employee is believed to have allegedly recruited three additional dealers from the same casino and instructed them to run games that would allegedly target members of organized crime or problem gamblers.

All three dealers had their licenses canceled.

$60,000 Seized from Cloverdale Home Raid

At the end of 2023, during a raid on a Cloverdale home, police allegedly discovered 16 players who had been previously banned from the casino plus $60,000. 

The respective home was suspected of allegedly operating a game without a permit or license. 

A 35-year-old man pleaded guilty to money and property laundering.

While gambling activities in charities and clubs are permitted in Western Australia via a permit, police allege the respective operations did not have one.

“Eventually They’ll Pop Back Up”

According to Gaming and Regulation executive director Jennifer Shelton in an interview for 9News, these Australian criminal organizations that are targeting vulnerable individuals “who are then using it for other criminal gains” are currently laying low. 

However, Shelton is confident that “eventually they’ll pop back up either in the same location or same premises.” 

The director added that organizers were interested in targeting Crown Casino employees and recruiting both problem gamblers who are patrons at the facility, as well as dealers.

The vulnerable players are either self-excluded players or individuals who are no strangers to the world of organized crime or who have accumulated “unexplained wealth.”

At the start of the year, Crown Resorts revealed that illegal online gambling websites had been using their intellectual property to deceive consumers.

Police and Gaming Minister Paul Papalia issued a statement regarding the events, saying the tighter supervision, casino monitoring, and organized crime prevention in casinos will get, the more likely we are to see people “try and get around it.”

Gambling is considered a serious public health risk in the context of hundreds of millions being lost to the activity each month. 

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Police officers in Corpus Christi, Texas, have raided an illegal gambling venue, seizing a variety of items and making multiple arrests.

According to a report by KRIS, a local TV station, the property, which was officially a video arcade, doubled as an illegal casino. A raid was greenlit and carried out by officers on Thursday, leading to a crackdown on the operation.

The raid, KRIS pointed out, followed a month-long investigation.

In total, the police seized multiple gambling devices, over $85,000 in cash, a vehicle and some marijuana. In addition, the police arrested three people believed to have run the operation.

These include Brandon Roe, 23, Mallory Villarreal, 30, and Jillian Dunnahoo, 22, who were accused of promoting gambling, keeping a gambling place, possessing gambling devices, engaging in organized crime and laundering money.

KRIS pointed out that both money laundering and engagement in organized crime are state felonies and are punishable by up to two years in jail. The three people also risk a maximum fine of $10,000 each. The remaining charges, KRIS added, are Class A misdemeanors.

The TV station also pointed out that five adults in the game room were cited for gambling, which is a Class C misdemeanor in the state.

The Corpus Christi Police Department asked citizens to be vigilant, reminding them that game rooms that offer games with cash rewards are illegal. The CCPD added that patrons of such establishments also risk criminal charges.

Not the First Illegal Gambling Venue

This game room was not the first instance of an illegal gambling operation in the state. Back in March 2023, Nathan Nichols, a 46-year-old Corpus Christi resident, admitted to running an illegal gambling business. Nichols was also previously involved in the theft of US Army property in a separate case.

For reference, Nichols owned and operated Lady Luck and Theo’s Bar. Both of these businesses offered illegal gambling entertainment to their patrons, earlier reports say. The operations ran from March 2018 to August 2019.

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The Spanish National Police, in collaboration with the Spanish Tax Agency, Europol, and INTERPOL, have dismantled an extensive organized crime network implicated in match-fixing of sporting events and leveraging technology to manipulate bookmakers’ odds.

International Table Tennis Bets Uncover Vast Sports Match-Fixing Network

This operation, which has been ongoing since 2020, initially came to light when Spanish law enforcement agencies detected a series of suspicious online bets being placed on international table tennis tournaments. As their investigation unfolded, they uncovered a sophisticated criminal network primarily consisting of individuals from Romania and Bulgaria.

The core of their illicit activities involved corrupting athletes to manipulate match outcomes outside of Spain. Once these arrangements were settled, the group’s operatives within Spain inundated online bookmakers with a deluge of bets.

What set this syndicate apart was its ability to outpace bookmakers in obtaining match information. Using advanced technology, they gained access to live video feeds directly from stadiums, arenas, and pitches worldwide. This edge allowed them to place bets with unrivaled certainty, maximizing their profits. In contrast, bookmakers relied on slower satellite feeds and relays for the same events.

The criminal network’s tentacles extended to various global sporting events, including the 2022 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Nations League, German Bundesliga, ATP, and ITF tennis tournaments. Despite reaping substantial rewards, the syndicate managed to evade detection by adopting multiple identities and accounts.

Among those apprehended was an individual affiliated with a prominent bookmaker who colluded with the syndicate to validate their online bets, further implicating the industry in this web of deceit.

INTERPOL’s Crucial Role in Unraveling Global Match-Fixing Network

INTERPOL played a pivotal role in this operation through its Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, mobilizing the INTERPOL Match-Fixing Task Force (IMFTF) and employing its extensive global policing resources. 

Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL’s secretary general, commented on the operation, saying: “Organized crime groups will exploit the tiniest of gaps given the opportunity. In this case, we’re talking about a 20- or 30-second advantage that led to significant gains.” 

Stock emphasized the importance of such operations and reaffirmed INTERPOL’s commitment to supporting law enforcement agencies worldwide.

IMFTF specialists joined Spanish authorities during house raids, facilitating the extraction and analysis of data from seized devices and cross-referencing information across INTERPOL’s databases.

This collaborative effort led to the blocking of 47 bank accounts and 28 payment gateways across multiple countries. Seized items included mobile phones, satellite dishes, signal receivers, cash, counterfeit banknotes, credit and debit cards, identification documents, and prepaid SIM cards. In other news, 17 arrests have been made in Spain in connection with match-fixing allegations involving a soccer club president and players conspiring to manipulate betting results.

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Blake Carl Fitzgerald faces prison after running an illegal gambling scheme. The 40-year-old allegedly used livestreaming services to wager remotely on behalf of other people.

The Minnesota man ran his illegal scheme on TikTok and Discord, Bring Me the News, a local news outlet, claims. According to a criminal complaint, Fitzgerald ran the scheme between October and December 2022.

Fitzgerald allegedly received $65,103 through CashApp and Venmo from his customers. He proceeded to use the money to play slot games at Lake Casino & Resort and Treasure Island Casino, livestreaming his performance on TikTok. According to the complaint, Fitzgerald would call out a subscriber’s name during the stream, asking them to say which machine they’d like him to play.

As agreed with his subscribers, Fitzgerald would keep more than half of the winnings and would send his subscribers the rest. If he ran out of time to play, he would return his subscribers’ money.

Fitzgerald took a subscription fee of $5.99 from his followers. He kept in touch with them via a Discord server.

Minnesota, meanwhile, continues to fight for the legalization of sports betting.

Fitzgerald Faces Prison Time

Fitzgerald’s scheme eventually fell apart when the Minnesota Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division received an anonymous complaint. After that, the regulatory body launched an investigation and identified Fitzgerald. The authorities also learned that the man had an accomplice who helped him run the scheme.

However, the name of the suspect has not been revealed as of yet since they are yet to be formally charged. In the meantime, Fitzgerald is being charged with three counts of running an illegal gambling operation.

As a result, the mastermind behind the illegal TikTok gambling scheme risks prison time of up to three years, as well as thousands of dollars in fines, Bring Me the News concluded.

In other news, the police in California continue their war on illegal casinos. In July, local authorities cracked down on an illegal casino, arresting three people and seizing a number of gambling machines and guns.

The arrestees in that case currently face charges over their illegal possession of guns.

Iowa athletes, meanwhile, face charges over illegal participation in betting. A total of eight people, including active players, former players and a student assistant, were found guilty of using third-party accounts to wager.

Elsewhere, match-fixing allegations led to the arrests of 17 people. These arrests took place in Spain after a thorough investigation.

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The defendants are believed to have been running an illegal gambling ring which operated in several verticals. The suspects are said to have facilitated various betting and gaming operations, including illegal poker games in Rochester and black market bets for sports betting events accepted through a website they had registered and worked with.

Multiple Suspects Helped Run the Illegal Business

The probe that led to their arrest was originally launched in October 2020 and culminated with the arrest of Louis P. Ferrari II and Dominic Sprague alongside co-conspirators Anthony Amato, Joseph Lomardo, Joseph Boscarino, James Cilvetti, and Tommaso Sessa.

Ferrari and Sprague are charged with running the illegal gambling ring whereas the other five defendants are said to have been charged with transmission of wagering information and other offences. Thomas Loewke, the state trooper involved, is accused of having tipped off the criminals about the ongoing probe against them.

Ferrari will also face charges of money laundering on top of the other charges brought against him. The culprits participated in the running of illegal gambling activities without a license, even though sports gambling has been licensed in person in various locations across the Empire State since 2019.

Ferrari and Sprague are named as the co-owners of the activity, whereas the other participants worked with the owners in various capacities. Sessa, for example, was charged with helping run the day-to-day operations at the location where the illegal ring operated from.

Ferrari was also involved in running the underhand bookmaking operation through an illegal online sportsbook called sport700.com. Lombardo and Boscarino are allegedly sub-agents for the website, whereas Amato is the alleged administrator. The investigators presented the infringement of each individual in detail, the result of the hard work put into locating and bringing a solid case against the entire operation.

Sinuous Network of Money Laundering and Illegal Gambling

To make sure that the losses of bettors were remitted back to the conspirators, Ferrari used his excavating business to launder the illegal proceedings. Before Ferrari would launder the proceedings, though, Sprague used his own pawn shop business to remit winnings to players and cash payments of gambling losses from bettors. Cilvetti was employed at the pawn shop.

The complaint brought against the defendants and Ferrari specifically highlights the discrepancies in the amounts registered by the business and the amounts paid out to people in cash, to the tune of $765,908 against cash revenue of only $97,232. The period of the payments and revenue covered April 2019 through January 2021.

The network was pretty impressive. Amato is believed to have operated 128 sub-agent accounts that were in charge of 1,789 individual bettors. More than $8,945,629 were placed in total wagers while the first account by Amato was set up in April 2016. The last wagers reported were placed in January 2021. The base of operation of the illegal gambling ring also hosted poker games without a license.

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