A criminal organisation whose members were engaged in running illegal gambling professionally and repeatedly at licensed premises in Thessaloniki and Kavala, as well as defrauding players using specialist illegal software, has been dismantled. The software allowed them to interfere with the games and choose who would win.
To bring their activities to an end, police officers from the Sub-Directorate for Combating Organised Crime of Northern Greece, assisted by officers from the Sub-Directorate of Forensic Investigations of Northern Greece, carried out a coordinated operation in various parts of Thessaloniki.
As part of the operation, a total of 20 people were arrested. Eighteen are alleged to be members of the criminal organisation, including its leaders, while two were arrested as customers who were playing.
A case file was compiled against them and 14 other people, as appropriate, on charges including participation in a criminal organisation, fraud constituting a felony, violations of gambling legislation, money laundering and breaches of personal data protection legislation.
A lengthy and thorough investigation by the Financial Crimes Department found that the two leaders, aged 55 and 51, had set up a structured, hierarchical group with distinct roles and an ongoing operation at least as far back as 2013. Other people gradually joined the group. The criminal organisation ran licensed premises, mainly internet cafés, where illegal gambling took place using specialist software.
To avoid detection, a separate area had been set up inside the venues and entry was controlled, with people present to act as «lookouts».
In addition, an electronic emergency button (panic button) had been installed, allowing members to change what appeared on computer screens when they became aware of police officers’ presence, in order to conceal the illegal gambling.
The specialist illegal software played a key role in the organisation’s operations. It allowed the leaders to set the odds and choose which players would win, effectively bypassing the games’ randomisation mechanism. This meant players were misled about their actual chances of winning, while the organisation made illegal profits.
The investigation also established the role played by each member of the organisation:
The 55-year-old allegedly had the central coordinating role, deciding how the venues would operate, admitting new members and allocating their duties. He also managed the proceeds of the illegal activity and decided how they would be used. At the same time, he gave instructions to his associates and monitored their implementation through the video surveillance systems installed at the venues,
The 68-year-old, one of the deputy leaders and a trusted associate of his, was responsible for managing staff, handling financial flows, transporting the day’s takings, providing technical support and overseeing the venues more generally,
A 51-year-old woman allegedly facilitated the management and concealment of the flow of money by providing her bank accounts to move funds generated by the illegal activity, while a 40-year-old man, also a deputy leader, allegedly managed the illegal software remotely, resolved technical problems and trained staff to use it.
He also monitored the venues through their video surveillance systems, gave instructions to employees, jointly managed with the 68-year-old sums of money hidden on the premises and, on the leader’s instructions, could select specific players to receive winnings.
The other members allegedly took part in running the venues, performing, as appropriate, surveillance duties, collecting money from players, crediting points and managing the electronic systems and emergency alert mechanism.
In addition, some members posed as owners of the companies that owned the venues, although they were not their real owners or managers. The use of these people, known as «front men», allegedly aimed to conceal the true ownership, distance the leaders from the illegal activity and avoid financial obligations such as tax debts and employers’ social security contributions.
A parallel financial investigation found that two of the leaders had expenses out of proportion to their declared income. It also found that revenue from the illegal activity was managed and channelled through specific individuals and bank accounts, as well as gambling accounts, in order to conceal its true origin and make it appear legitimate. The organised management of financial flows, combined with the concealment of the venues’ true ownership, allegedly made it harder to trace the source of the money and facilitated the laundering of the illegal proceeds.
Taking into account the duration of the organisation’s activities, which are alleged to date back to 2013, its total illegal proceeds are estimated to exceed €1 million.
The case was reported to the Authority for Combating Money Laundering, which ordered the freezing, as appropriate, of bank and betting accounts belonging to the leaders.
Searches of homes, premises and vehicles, as well as body searches of the accused, resulted in the discovery and seizure of:
-the sum of €61,460 and US$700,
-11 gold sovereigns,
-4 private cars, one used to commit the offences and three deemed proceeds of money laundering,
-28 mobile phones and a large number of SIM cards,
-jewellery,
-21 cameras,
-22 computer hard drives,
-61 computer processing units,
-22 monitors, 22 keyboards, 22 mice,
-3 laptops, tablets,
-4 camera recording systems,
-a bank passbook,
-a large number of portable digital storage devices,
-handwritten notes, as well as documents and receipts.
The arrested individuals were taken, along with the case file compiled against them, to the competent prosecutorial authority. Two of them, who had been arrested as customers and patrons, were released on the verbal order of the prosecutor responsible for criminal prosecutions.