Italian police launch crackdown against Malta-based Betuniq operations

Police in Italy have launched a crackdown on Malta-licensed online gambling operator Betuniq as part of an operation targeting an alleged Mafia organization.

On Wednesday, Italian police launched pre-dawn raids on betting operations both within the country and in Malta that police allege have ties to the ‘Ngdrangheta organized crime group. Police said they seized assets worth €2b and issued 41 arrest warrants, including one bearing the name of alleged betting scheme mastermind Mario Gennaro aka Mariolino.

Among the targets of the raids were 1,500 betting shops in Italy, 82 online gambling sites, 45 Italy-based companies and 11 overseas firms, including six in Malta, two each in Romania and Spain, plus one in Austria. Police claimed to have seized “innumerable” property assets during their Wednesday action against an “economic power of gigantic proportions.”

Malta Today reported that the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) had immediately suspended the licenses of the affected Malta-based companies, including Uniq Group Ltd and Betsolution4U Ltd. The Betuniq.eu/it site was still operational several hours after this report but has since gone dark.