A Spanish police officer has been sentenced for embezzling money to gamble. The man will now serve a five-month suspended prison sentence and a 10-month disqualification period.

The incident happened in 2020 when the man and his team cracked down on an illegal drug operation. At the scene, the officer and his colleagues seized bags of marijuana and almost $10,000 in cash.

Instead of safeguarding the cash found at the scene, the officer decided to appropriate it when his colleagues were not looking. Eight hours later, the man proceeded to treat himself at a local casino with the money he embezzled. To make matters worse, the police officer hit a streak of losses, eventually returning home with none of the cash he had hoped to earn. 

The police later asked the man to return the seized items. After he handed only the drugs, his suspicious colleagues reported the incident, leading to an investigation into the matter. In the end, the police officer’s crime came to light.

The man was able to return the money, which, luckily for him, was a major mitigating factor, leading to a much lighter sentence. As a result, he was only handed a suspended sentence. However, the prosecution can still try to appeal the decision.

More Recent Criminal Activities in the Gambling Sector

In other news, Binance Holdings, the world’s largest crypto exchange, admitted to violating anti-money laundering regulations in the United States. The company intentionally focused on profits, neglecting its AML responsibilities. As a result of its guilty plea, Binance will have to pay $4 billion to resolve the investigation.

Changpeng Zhao, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, resigned from his position as a result of the case. 

Elsewhere, a fatal shooting occurred at Osage Casino & Hotel in the United States where an alleged car and credit card thief tried to escape from the police. According to reports from local news outlets, the man was fatally shot by a bystander while he was trying to escape with a car and dragging a police officer who had been trying to stop him across the pavement.

The identities of the deceased person and the shooter are yet to be revealed as of the time of this writing.

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In the wake of his departure from Resorts World Las Vegas, the company’s ex-president and COO, Scott Sibella, has been accused of allowing criminals to gamble. Robert Cipriani, a Californian high roller, alleges that Sibella would knowingly “turn a blind eye” to multiple patrons who gambled with stolen money.

Through their negligence, the casino resort and Sibella himself have caused distress to Cipriani, the plaintiff says.

Filed in the US District Court of Nevada, the suit alleges that Robert Alexander, a person who was involved in a previous incident with Cipriani, used money that he had stolen from his investors to gamble at Resorts World Las Vegas.

Cipriani tried to tip off Sibella and the casino staff about what was happening but they allegedly ignored him. In addition, Alexander allegedly subjected the plaintiff to weeks of harassment and intimidation.

For reference, in November 2021, Alexander and Cipriani were involved in a case that caused Cipriani to be charged with robbery and larceny. These charges were eventually dropped. Alexander, on the other hand, has previously pled guilty to wire fraud and securities fraud.

This Wasn’t the Only Time the Resort Allowed Convicted Criminals to Play, the Plaintiff Says

As outlined in the lawsuit, Cipriani had also tried to inform the casino staff of additional criminal activities. The plaintiff provided screenshots of conversations between himself and the casino property’s surveillance operations manager, Joseph Tatonetti, as proof. The images prove that Cipriani had indeed tipped off Tatonetti about two criminals, notably Brandon Sattler and Edwin Ting, who were allowed to play at the casino.

Cipriani and Tatonetti agreed that Ting, who once operated an illegal gambling ring, should not have gotten through compliance. The manager had replied that “the cage director is really pissed about it as well.”

Cipriani will now seek compensations for alleged damages that Resorts World Las Vegas and Sibella have caused.

Speaking of Sibella, the aforementioned lawsuit comes a few weeks after the former Resorts World Las Vegas president was forced to leave the company because of unspecified violations. In the meantime, Resorts World Las Vegas named its chief financial officer, Peter LaVoie, as its new president.

The post RWLV’s Ex-President Allegedly Allowed Criminals to Gamble with Stolen Money appeared first on Keno Wizard.

Letting minors gamble could cost a pub in Melbourne almost AU$ 222,000 ($149,850) after the Victoria gambling regulator got tipped, investigated and charged the venue.

Six Occasions of Letting Gambling by Minors

The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) announced Friday that the staff at the Preston Hotel allowed a 16-year-old access to electronic terminals on six occasions last year – in May and September – which the minor used to place bets, reported The Guardian.

Glorija Kuzman, director for Gambling at the VGCCC, outlined that “all gambling operators – including venues and the holder of the statewide Wagering and Betting license – have an irrefutable legal requirement to do everything they can to stop children from gambling.”

“One of the most serious harms is minors gambling,” she said, deeply concerned with the violations.

The VGCCC charged the pub located in north-east Melbourne with 15 charges among which six counts of allowing a minor to gamble, six counts of failing to supervise its electronic betting terminals and three counts of allowing a minor to enter a gambling machine area – all carrying a maximum financial penalty of AU$221,904 ($149,785).

The Melbourne pub is not the only one charged for the violations as the watchdog also slapped charges on the holder of the statewide wagering and betting license, Tabcorp. Australia’s largest gambling operator is facing a maximum fine of nearly AU$104,000 ($70,200) over eight charges – four counts of allowing a minor to gamble and four counts of failing to supervise a gambling machine.

“We are very focused on managing the unique challenges of cash betting and continue to invest in this area to protect minors by stopping our equipment from being used in this way,” commented a spokesman for Tabcorp, adamant that the company is taking the matter seriously.

Urging the Public to Share Info on Possible Transgressions

The regulator also said other venues are also being investigated for similar offenses, urging the public to contact the watchdog and share information if they have witnessed occasions in which minors could have possibly gambled.

The charges against the Melbourne pub and Tabcorp is the latest enforcement action undertaken by the Victorian gambling watchdog which is not shy to enforce the regulations and slap huge fines on incumbents which are found to have violated the requirements.

At the end of last year, the VGCCC issued a fine of AU$1.35 million ($904,000) to the country’s major poker machine operator, Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH), for non-compliance with the Gambling Regulation Act 2003 related to the compulsory pre-commitment program YourPlay.

Earlier in the year, the watchdog penalized Crown Resorts with AU$80 million ($57.4 million) for allowing players at Crown Melbourne to use China Union Pay cards to make deposits between 2012 and 2016.

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The Kansspelautoriteit, a body that regulates gambling in the Netherlands, has fined Merkur Casino Almere over an exclusion-related breach. According to the authority, the casino operator allowed a self-excluded person to play over a two-week period.

The person in question was registered in the Netherlands’ self-exclusion register (CRUKS) and was supposed to be barred from playing with a casino operator. Yet, the player managed to successfully gain access to Merkur Casino in Almere.

The Kansspelautoriteit noted that Merkur Casino allowed the player to enter its property a total of nine times in the period from February 17, 2022, to March 2, 2022. This was a clear violation of the local gambling rules and a breach of Merkur’s social responsibility obligations.

The Player Was Registered in the CRUKS

CRUKS is an official register containing all people who have excluded themselves from playing high-risk gambling. All companies that hold a license in the Netherlands are required to diligently check that a player’s name is not registered in the CRUKS.

This measure, which Merkur failed to properly follow, seeks to protect gamblers who consider themselves prone to addiction from harm. However, a technical error prevented Merkur from properly checking whether the person in question was excluded or not.

According to the KSA, Merkur received an error message when trying to check the person’s name in the CRUKS. If the casino company had decided to follow protocol, it should have barred the player from entering until it was able to confirm whether their name appears in the register.

However, Merkur Casino Almere decided to take a risk and instead allowed the gambler to enter the property and play.

As a result of these violations, the KSA handed a fine of €45,000 (almost $50,000) to Merkur.

KSA Recently Fined Betent

Speaking of fines, the KSA recently slapped Betent with a $438,000 fine over illegal advertisements. The casino operator, the regulator reported, disregarded the local advertising standards and advertised to young adults.

Advertising to vulnerable groups is considered to be a serious violation of the local gambling rules. While Betent may not have intently targeted young adults, its messages ended up reaching such an audience.

While Dutch young adults are not prohibited from playing, local operators are prohibited from targeting them with ads. This is because the market believes that young people are still developing and therefore extra susceptible to gambling addiction.

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