Salta court convicts 11 people over illegal online casinos
Enforcement & compliance2 min read
In brief
- A Salta court convicted 11 people over illegal online gambling operations.
- Four received suspended three-year sentences and seven suspended two-year sentences.
- The investigation began with EnReJA complaints about unlicensed betting platforms.
- Proceedings continue against two defendants who did not accept the abbreviated procedure.
A court in Salta, Argentina, convicted 11 people of organising and exploiting illegal online gambling, the province's Public Prosecutor's Office said. Four defendants were sentenced to three years' imprisonment, suspended, as co-perpetrators, and seven to two years, suspended, as secondary participants, according to the prosecutor's office. The sentences were handed down under full abbreviated-trial agreements approved by judge José Riera.
The investigation began with complaints from the Ente Regulador del Juego de Azar de Salta (EnReJA), which detected online betting platforms operating without authorisation. It was handled by the Unidad de Delitos Económicos Complejos (UDEC) under the direction of interim criminal prosecutor Ana Inés Salinas Odorisio. The agreements were reached after the accused admitted the facts attributed to them and accepted criminal responsibility.
According to the investigation, between 2022 and 2024 the organisation promoted, administered and exploited online casinos through platforms including BET91, Celuapuestas and Red Las Únicas. The structure had different levels of responsibility: organisers and general administrators coordinated operations, while other members recruited cashiers, brought in bettors, sold virtual chips and managed funds from bets. The network used social media, messaging applications and in-person and virtual meetings, the prosecutor's office said. Cashiers took money from bettors and made periodic transfers to administrators, who forwarded the funds to higher levels of the organisation.
A court-authorised undercover digital agent was among the investigation's central tools. The investigator posed as someone interested in joining the network, which allowed him to learn from inside how cashiers and bettors were recruited, how users and passwords were assigned and how virtual chips were sold. He also gained access to WhatsApp groups carrying instructions, advertising material and sales balances, and documented Google Meet meetings in which administrators gave commercial directives and encouraged the recruitment of new players. The information was supplemented by raids, the seizure of documents and electronic devices, telephone intercepts and analysis of bank movements.
The case continues against two other defendants who did not agree to the abbreviated procedure and must go through the accusation-control stage, the prosecutor's office said.