Malta MGA suspend licenses of Mafia linked firms

Here’s a little inspiration for Hollywood to do sequel to Runner Runner.

The Malta Gaming Authority have announced that they have suspended the licenses of two net gambling companies following allegations of mafia links.

At the center of allegations is an Italian man named Mario Gennaro (not pictured left).

Gennaro is head of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta’ organized crime group that Italian police say have set up shop in Malta through companies Betsolution4U Ltd, Uniq Group Ltd, Uniq Shopping Ltd,  Fast Run Ltd, Tebaral Trading Ltd and Tebaral Holding Ltd, principally for the purposes of money laundering.

Gennaro and a few associates appeared in a Malta court yesterday, and will be extradited back to Italy where police say they have already seized assets worth €2 billion and issued 41 arrest warrants in relation to Ndrangheta linked gambling companies around the world.

The MGA have responded by suspending the licenses of net gambling companies falling under their regulation: Uniq Group (Betuniq) and Betsolution4U both of which have been operating in Malta since 2011.

A press release yesterday on the MGA website read:

“The Malta Gaming Authority has suspended with immediate effect the licenses of Uniq Group Limited (Betuniq) and Betsolution4U Limited. These operators have been operating in Malta since 2011. This is further to investigations and arrests carried out by the Italian law enforcement authorities in collaboration with the Maltese police.

The MGA is providing full support to the relevant authorities so that Malta’s reputation as a gaming jurisdiction of excellence is kept free from crime and money laundering. The MGA is also alerting counterpart regulators in other EU jurisdictions about this case.”

In case you happen upon the websites of betsolution4u.com (appears non operational) or betuniq.eu (seems to be still up and running…live games included) then perhaps give them a wide berth!