Eight arrested for manipulating gambling devices

An organised crime group, which was involved in computer crimes and money laundering, was broken up in a raid by police officers from Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Pleven. Eight people were detained, who were manipulating slot machines and roulette tables using specialized technical means. Among them were croupiers from a gambling hall in Pleven.

The group was extremely conspiratorial, very mobile and operated on the territory of five districts - Stara Zagora, Pleven, Plovdiv, Smolyan and Sofia district. They manipulated gambling machines and even the game of roulette very skillfully. With various electronic devices and microchips, they influenced the machines so as to generate jackpot winnings, which they divided among themselves. The casino managers knew about this, but not the owners.

The raid took place on October 20. Eight people were detained and numerous searches of homes, garages and cars were conducted. Gaming machines and roulette machines were found, on which the manipulating devices were tested. Especially for the roulette table game, the manipulating device was so precisely made that there was even a kind of business interest from abroad.

"What these manipulations are - an electronic device is produced which is connected to the respective gaming machine and through an external remote device the change of the algorithm of the respective gaming machine is provoked in such a way that it generates a jackpot win for the one who plays. In addition to this, they have also manipulated the live game - roulette, where the manipulation is carried out by making a ball in which a chip is implanted, which chip is triggered again by an external remote control in such a way that the ball is set at rest on the number to which the offender wishes, "explained Dimitar Molev, supervising prosecutor of the District Prosecutor's Office in Plovdiv.

It is yet to be ascertained what amount of money the 8 members of the criminal group managed to generate. One of them has been indicted for organising it and the others for participating in it.