Three arrested in Israel over online casino operations

The arrest of three Israeli citizens has raised questions about what is and is not legal in the country where online casinos are concerned. Asi Vaknin, Naftali Goldman and Yonaton Grimberg were arrested on suspicion of money laundering  and extortion by the Israeli International and Serious Crimes Division in Lod near to Tel Aviv. The next morning the three appeared before judge Esther Nachlieli-Khayat at the Rishon Letzion Magistrates Court and were remanded for four days. It would appear that owning and running a gambling website is not illegal in Israel as long as Israelis themselves are blocked and the site is not managed from Israel, indeed there are such companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange. The defence attorneys Sasi Gez and Sharon Nahari demanded proof that the business of the defendants was illegal and any different  to other Internet gaming sites; even judge Nachieli-Khayat had the same questions. The defence claimed that the company has licenses and everything is public and visible. The lead police investigator Superintendent Alon Shaharbani told the court that some of the activity took place in Israel which made the operation illegal but the defence claimed that servers and portals can exists legally in Israel as long as Israelis are barred and cited another case in which police claimed a site was being run from a portal in Israel but no indictment was issued.

The judge said legal questions in the case “spanned the globe“ and needed to be answered before the case could progress. Money laundering is of course illegal in every country but will have to be proven.