File photo: Egypt's Administrative Control Authority (Photo: Al-Ahram)
According to the ACA, the gang specialized in luring young people into participating in illegal betting through allocated websites run from outside Egypt.
ACA’s investigations revealed that a group of people in various governorates had built illegal financial networks between bettors in Egypt and the administrators of these websites abroad.
They facilitated electronic payment methods to evade the law and minimize the chances of tracking financial transactions, the statement read.
Payments were processed through electronic wallets registered under fake names and cryptocurrencies, which were converted into foreign currencies and transferred abroad, thus harming the national economy, it added.
After presenting the case to the public prosecutor, he ordered the defendants to be referred to the Economic Affairs and Money Laundering Prosecution, which began its investigation and decided to detain the suspects.
The technical authorities were also tasked with tracking the electronic wallets used in these betting sites.
Online gambling and betting are banned in Egypt. Recently, due to the recent economic crisis in Egypt, foreign online gambling and betting found a new market despite their illegality as a way for quick income.
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