Two Israeli businesses were raided by police this
week under suspicions of illegally advertising for
online gambling websites, which included BeTheDealer
Casino and King Solomon Casino. The two
companies under investigation are Walla! (which is
being accused of advertising for several sites) and
Sport Line (which is accused for advertising for a
single gambling website).
The raids were carried
out by the computer crime sector of the Israeli
Police Fraud Unit, who used a search warrant to
gather potentially incriminating evidence, while
interviewing suspects and witnesses. After
being prompted by the Attorney General to begin
cracking down on companies who advertise for online
casino sites, the Israeli Police have been busy
investigating several leads. Although now
arrests were made as of yet, the investigation had
enough evidence - it would seem - to take it to the
next level.
Walla! Communications,
which is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and
largely owned by Bezeq International and Haaretz
Publishing, commented it knew nothing about the
investigation, including any further developments
after the raid. Not denying the charges, the
multi-million dollar company did say that any
revenue received for online casino advertising was
quite minimal. In the meantime, both Walla!
and Sport Line will be conducting business as normal
- short of any advertising that could warrant
another police raid.