Officers from the National Police have arrested three people for defrauding more than 60,000 euro after rigging electronic roulettes in at least 19 gambling halls in Madrid.
The modus operandi consisted of moving the dome of the electronic roulettes and, after disabling the alarm mechanisms, managing to make the ball fall on the desired numbers.
The investigation began when the agents learned of the complaint made by the head of a gambling hall in the capital, in which he reported the detection of an unusual economic loss in electronic roulette. They delivered a detailed report of several rooms that they ran where they had the same suspicions. In addition, the agents detected the commission of other acts similar to those denounced, this time in a bingo hall also located in Madrid.
After carrying out the pertinent steps related to both events, the investigators were able to determine that some of the people who had attended the gambling halls on the important days of the economic losses were the same. With all this, and once their participation in the events had been verified, the agents proceeded to identify the modus operandi used, based on a skilful system of balances. It was about cancelling the machine’s alarm and moving the dome of the roulette wheel so that the ball fell on the number they chose, all while distracting the room manager from noticing the illicit action.
After determining their method of action to defraud the lounges, the agents contacted those responsible for the different gambling halls throughout the national territory to find out if they had detected similar events and obtained a negative response, so it was possible to determine that the criminal group had only acted in the Community of Madrid.
With the investigations advanced, the agents were able to identify those responsible for these events, although their location became complicated because they used to habitually leave Spanish territory to move to Morocco and, when they were in Spain, they changed their address regularly. Finally, the investigators managed to locate and arrest three people belonging to this organisation when they left the game room, in addition to intervening a vehicle. The operation remains open pending further arrests.
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