Undercover Investigations in Illicit Betting Operations: Do They Efficiently Dismantle Unlawful Gambling?
In September 2023, the Ordnungsamt Braunschweig dispatched test players to 30 gaming halls across the city. The objective was to uncover any administrative offenses and potential illegal activities beyond mere rule infractions.
The test players' mission was facilitated by the platform illegales-spiel.de, launched in August 2023, which allows visitors of gaming halls to report suspected violations anonymously.
During their investigations, the test players uncovered several administrative offenses in gaming halls. Three establishments were found to have insufficient surveillance personnel, and five halls allowed test players to play on more than one machine at the same time.
While the possibility of uncovering illegal slot machines in the back room or organized gambling and drug crime through future investigations remains speculative, the use of test players in the future could lead to the discovery of more serious violations.
It is important to note that all gaming halls visited were legally operated establishments. The article does not provide information on how the platform illegales-spiel.de operates or who runs it.
The use of test players in gambling halls serves as a compliance and investigative tool to uncover illegal activities beyond mere administrative offenses, such as fraud, cheating, or money laundering schemes.
In other jurisdictions, casinos and gambling operators implement robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programs that include enhanced customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring of transactions, and detection of suspicious patterns. These systems often use real or test player accounts to detect and flag abnormal or illegal behaviors.
Enforcement agencies conduct investigations and raids when there is suspicion of illegal gambling activities. In such cases, undercover or test users may be employed to experience and reveal fraudulent schemes disguised as legitimate gaming or skill-based platforms but operating as chance-based gambling.
In jurisdictions like California, investigators scrutinise illegal wagering disguised as skill games (like fantasy sports). Test accounts are used to ascertain if betting mechanisms are rigged or violate gambling laws, distinguishing illegal gambling from permitted activities.
Test players can simulate real gambling activity to identify suspicious or illegal practices beyond administrative oversights, gather evidence of deceptive marketing or illicit betting structures, and trigger monitoring systems by mimicking player behaviors that highlight manipulation or exploitation schemes.
These findings in Braunschweig will result in administrative offense proceedings, with fines being imposed for the legal offenses uncovered. Anonymous tips from gamblers could help investigators identify administrative offenses or even more serious crimes more quickly. However, the effectiveness of these tips in helping investigators remains uncertain.
It is unlikely that the investigators will publish their strategies for future investigations. Nonetheless, the practical use of test players allows authorities to uncover covert illegal gambling activities that extend beyond administrative issues, supporting more comprehensive regulatory enforcement and prosecution.
- What more could the test players discover in gaming halls beyond administrative offenses, such as fraud, cheating, or money laundering schemes?
- In light of the increased use of anonymous tips and test players, could investigators uncover crime and justice matters, like organized gambling and drug crime, in casino-and-gambling establishments?
