{"id":208317,"date":"2022-04-06T10:07:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T17:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=208317"},"modified":"2022-04-06T12:01:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T19:01:38","slug":"colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the country, with police making several arrests.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_208316\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-208316\" data-style=\"width: 2476px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-208316 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled-e1649271487319.jpg\" alt=\"Illegal lottery tickets\" width=\"2476\" height=\"1600\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-208316\"class=\"text-description\">Tickets for an illegal lottery in Colombia. The activity is an ongoing problem law enforcement is trying to tackle. (Image: Noticiero Universal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Colombian operation was dedicated to fabricating, distributing, and selling fake lottery and raffle tickets. This week, law enforcement shut it down, making several arrests and seizing houses and other assets following an 18-month investigation. The size of the operation was substantial enough that the investigation will likely continue to uncover more surprises.<\/p>\n<p><strong> So far, police have implicated a dozen individuals for their participation, including one of the ringleaders. They also seized assets that, according to investigations, were part of the irregular sale of raffles in four subregions of Antioquia.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the police arrested was a man identified only as Mauricio. He is a 47-year-old lithographer in charge of printing and distributing &#8220;checkbooks&#8221; of lottery tickets. The printing took place in Medell\u00edn, and the group then distributed them throughout the Aburr\u00e1 Valley and to the municipalities of San Jer\u00f3nimo, Caucasia, Andes, and Betania.<\/p>\n<h2>Illegal Lottery Meets its Demise<\/h2>\n<p>The commander of the Antioquia Police, Colonel Daniel Mazo Cardona, told local media that law enforcement presented search warrants to 13 properties, arresting 12 individuals. Police also seized 36 assets, including real estate, in conjunction with the searches, reportedly with a total value of around COP17 billion (US$4.52 million). In addition, police confiscated COP$167 million (US$44,605) in cash.<\/p>\n<p><strong>According to the colonel, in Medell\u00edn, the group distributed the checkbooks in the city&#8217;s center while it concentrated on the urban areas in the other municipalities. This generated revenue losses of millions of pesos for Antioquia and its municipalities.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Revenue from the sale of legitimate lotteries and raffles goes to the health system. However, the group instead used its ill-gotten funds to splurge on luxury goods, including high-end properties in Las Palmas in Medell\u00edn, the capital of Antioquia. &#8220;They used this money to enrich themselves and acquire valuable properties,&#8221; Mazo added.<\/p>\n<p>In Antioquia, the lottery and raffle tickets are produced digitally to avoid the falsification of the checkbooks. This also helps guarantee the legality of the raffles. The Medell\u00edn Lottery oversees the legal lottery operations. Last year, through gambling, it allocated COP$136 billion (US$36.24 million) to the health sector.<\/p>\n<h2>Not the First Illegal Lottery Op to Fall<\/h2>\n<p>This was a significant blow to illegal lottery operations in Colombia, but it was only the latest.<\/p>\n<p>On September 2, 2020, police captured what law enforcement dubbed at the time the &#8220;illegal lottery czar&#8221; in Bogot\u00e1. That police action also led to the arrest of an additional 12 individuals. They allegedly defrauded thousands of victims and Colombia&#8217;s health system with false lottery tickets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>In that operation, the Domain Extinction and Money Laundering Unit of the Prosecutor&#8217;s Office conducted an initiative to identify, locate, and seize the properties in the name of this czar in Bogot\u00e1. It also led to the discovery of the names of the front men who lent their names to the purchase of the properties allegedly acquired through the illegal activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>That group reportedly earned anywhere from COP180 million to COP680 million (US$47,970 to $181,220) every day for two years.<\/p>\n<p>In October of last year, police arrested another 12 for their illegal lottery operations. The accused faced prison sentences of between six and eight years in all cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the country, with police making several arrests. The Colombian operation was dedicated to fabricating, distributing, and selling fake lottery and raffle tickets. This week, law enforcement shut it down, making several arrests [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":208316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-06T17:07:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-06T19:01:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled-e1649271487319.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/\",\"name\":\"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-06T17:07:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-06T19:01:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca\"},\"description\":\"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1822,\"caption\":\"Tickets for an illegal lottery in Colombia. The activity is an ongoing problem law enforcement is trying to tackle. (Image: Noticiero Universal)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca\",\"name\":\"Erik Gibbs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Erik Gibbs\"},\"description\":\"Erik Gibbs covers global gaming news for Casino.org. His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. Contact Erik at erik.gibbs@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/erik-gibbs\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org","description":"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org","og_description":"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-04-06T17:07:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-06T19:01:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2476,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled-e1649271487319.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Erik Gibbs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erik Gibbs","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/","name":"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests - Casino.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-06T17:07:13+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-06T19:01:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca"},"description":"Police in Colombia broke up a sizable operation dealing in fraudulent lotteries and raffles this week. The activity extended across several regions in the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Chance-ilegal-1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1822,"caption":"Tickets for an illegal lottery in Colombia. The activity is an ongoing problem law enforcement is trying to tackle. (Image: Noticiero Universal)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colombian-authorities-bust-underground-lottery-operation-make-12-arrests\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Colombian Authorities Bust Underground Lottery Operation, Make 12 Arrests"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca","name":"Erik Gibbs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-13-96x96.png","caption":"Erik Gibbs"},"description":"Erik Gibbs covers global gaming news for Casino.org. His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. Contact Erik at erik.gibbs@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/erik-gibbs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}