Gambling license withdrawn on suspicion of mafia links

After a three year long investigation Italian police have arrested 74 people in the city of Bari in southern Italy and seized around €220 million worth of assets including buildings, luxury cars, businesses and even horses on suspicion of being involved with the Mafia Parisi clan who are accused of drug trafficking, money laundering and attempted murder. Amongst those arrested were the clan chief Savino Parisi and local politicians and businessmen and amongst the assets is the London based online betting company Paradise Bet Limited which operates Paradise Bet and Bet 1128. The UK Gambling commission which issued a license to Paradise Bet Ltd in April 2007 has now suspended  license 3371  pending an investigation into the activities of the company. The commission quoted section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005 under which it” may review any matter with the provision of facilities for gambling as authorised by an operating license if the Commission for any reason suspects that the licensee may be unsuitable to carry on the license activities or thinks that a review would be appropriate”. Attempted murder and money laundering sound pretty unsuitable to us. The commission is obviously keeping it’s cards close to the chest at the moment but we should all be happy that another dishonest online gambling outfit has been taken off the market. Our advice is as always stick to the online casinos that you know or we recommend.