Fourteen arrests, a storage for installing machines, and assets worth about 750 thousand PLN. This was the outcome of a coordinated operation targeting a group suspected of organizing illegal gambling. Officers operated simultaneously in three voivodeships, and the investigation was overseen by the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Kraków. The case concerns a mechanism that, according to investigators, had been operating since 2021.
Investigations revealed that the group operated a closed system. They controlled venues, organized games without the required license, and installed and stored the machines in their own warehouse. Later, the devices were moved to points where they were used for illegal activity.
Behind each machine there was a support system covering installation, storage, transport, and a network of venues. Each element supported the next, allowing the operation to function for years. CBŚP officers and the Customs and Tax Service struck both the gaming locations and the infrastructure that supplied them.
The operation took place in the Świętokrzyskie, Łódź, and Masovian voivodeships. During a search of a suspect’s residential premises, officers also uncovered narcotics.
Four detentions, fourteen suspects
The arrested were taken to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Kraków. One suspect was charged with leading an organized criminal group. All faced charges related to tax crimes involving the arrangement of games on machines without the required license, and one individual also faced a drug crime charge.
At the prosecutor’s request, the District Court imposed temporary detention on four suspects. Simultaneously, officers seized cash in various currencies, valuable items, and real estate. The total value of the seized assets is about 750 thousand PLN.
The scale of the operation shows that investigators were interested not only in people and machines. They also seized assets linked to the suspects, thus addressing the financial dimension of the case. In illegal gambling, money ties the entire mechanism together: from device preparation, through venues, to the continued operation of the group.
Innocent entertainment? Only at first glance
A machine operating outside the legal system may look like ordinary entertainment. The difference becomes apparent later. Such games are not subject to state control or participant protection mechanisms, thereby increasing the risk of fraud, addiction, and significant financial loss.
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And that’s not the end. Income from illegal gambling can finance other forms of organized crime. The stakes then go beyond the player’s wallet. This operation reminds us that illegal gambling is not harmless entertainment. It has a support system, financial flows, and real social costs.
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