Israeli Online Gambling Ring Claimed Belize Licence

Recently it was reported that there were arrests made in Israel regarding an illegal online gambling operation there. The story is becoming more interesting as the day goes on. Reports surfaced that alleged illegal operations were based and licensed in the jurisdiction of Belize. These reports have turned out to be ruse causing some confusion for the police as well as other online gambling operators trying to sort out the truth. Servers were actually located in Estonia, and bank accounts for the leaders of the operation were located in Israel. The casino and sports betting site Internet1x2.com was claiming to be regulated by the Belize Gaming Commission, but as yet no such connection has been established. Apparently the operations stretched from England, to Eastern Europe and Israel with the Belize connection used as a front.

Israeli police arrested two brothers, Idan and Shai Raviv, as the principle suspects in the investigation. The website, which has been taken down claimed to be owned by Net Games, a firm allegedly incorporated in Belize. Lincoln Blake, an official from the Belize Ministry of Economic Development, told Channel 5 News in Belize that no filings or registration of the gambling site nor its holding company existed. Blake specified that Fulton Data Processing and Sports Offshore Limited are the only two web sites registered in Belize. Blake said, " The Government of Belize recently discovered that several online gaming websites are claiming to have licenses in Belize," adding, "We want to advise the Internet community and the general public that there are only two with license to operate from Belize."

Israel permits it's citizens to operate online gambling sites, although residents are not allowed to use the gambling sites. And the sites are not allowed to advertise to Israeli customers. The false web site was targeting Israelis, soliciting them to play.