A group of organizers of illegal online casinos have been arrested in Italy

More than 60 people were arrested for organizing illegal online gambling games in Italy. Experts suggest that networks of underground online casinos are controlled by Italian mafia clans.

Three different investigations by prosecutors of Bari, Reggio di Calabria and Catania (Italy), coordinated by the National Crime and Counter-Terrorism Directorate, revealed that the mafia controlled the illegal online gambling market. The operations carried out this week led to the arrest of 68 people and the confiscation of more than a billion euros of illegal proceeds.

The police have calculated that the volume of sports betting is over € 4.5 billion. The criminals were engaged in money laundering and offered illegal service-line betting.

The investigation revealed that criminal groups controlled the market for illegal online betting through various platforms managed by the same organizations. The money, the operations with which were controlled by Guardia di Finanza, were then reinvested in financial assets abroad under the names of various people, institutions and companies.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies from Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, the Netherlands, Curaçao, Serbia, Albania, Spain and Malta took part in the investigation.