Bulgarian cops continue anti-online gambling drive

The recent approval of online gambling regulation in Bulgaria has been followed by immediate enforcement action by the Bulgarian police.

This weekend police took down a criminal network involved in unlicensed and illegal online betting, the Ministry of the Interior announced Sunday.

Novinite reports that the operation was organised by officers in the Computer Crimes, Intellectual Property and Gambling section of the Organized Crime Directorate General.

The investigation and subsequent raids targeted an unnamed illegal bookmaker who hosted a system for accepting and paying out online bets on sports events, a government spokesman revealed.

The illegal internet betting network had been in place and operating since October 2011, with daily turnover from games sometimes reaching BGN lev 3,000-5,000 (around GBP 2,000), the spokesman noted.

The bookmaker apparently used the attractive odds of an unidentified foreign gambling operator which did not have a permit to organise gambling in Bulgaria.

Two apartments were raided by search warrant-wielding police parties, and computers, cellphones and records were seized. The local organiser of the enterprise was arrested and held for 24 hours, police confirmed.

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