{"id":331042,"date":"2024-09-19T13:30:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T18:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=331042"},"modified":"2024-09-19T14:18:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:18:32","slug":"denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket that Used Sham Crypto"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal jury in Denver has convicted a local man of running an illegal gambling business that employed a fake cryptocurrency to conceal the exchange of gambling credits for cash.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan
Players at a Denver arcade in October 2017 playing \u201cfish-shooting games\u201d of the kind that were employed at Arvay\u2019s Player One establishment. (Image: CBS Colorado<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jonathan Arvay, 38, was found guilty of one count of conducting an illegal gambling business and one count of conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling business in connection to his operation of the Player One Arcade in Denver.<\/p>\n

The arcade was one of a network of businesses throughout Colorado raided by federal agents in February 2022, each offering popular \u201cfish-shooting\u201d-style<\/a> arcade games and other slot-style machines, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Obsidian Digital Asset Coin<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wagers at all these businesses were placed using a proprietary \u201ccryptocurrency\u201d known as \u201c<\/em>Obsidian Digital Asset Coin (ODAC),\u201d which could be purchased and sold on the premises. The network of dens was linked through the common use of the ODAC cryptocurrency, as well as through management and ownership, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

\n

Two other defendants, Nathan Sugar and Jovan Walker, are facing similar charges for their involvement in the network, but Sugar also faces three additional counts of money laundering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Casino-style gambling in Colorado<\/a> is confined to three Rocky Mountain gambling towns — Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek — and two Native American casinos, both in the Four Corners region.<\/p>\n

The defendants argued that the use of ODAC legitimized the businesses because of a 2018 Colorado law that banned gaming machines from paying out cash prizes. ODAC\u2019s sole function could be exchanged for cash at an ATM-like \u201ccryptocurrency teller machine\u201d inside the arcade.<\/p>\n

Veneer of Legitimacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThese gambling dens masqueraded as arcades with a veneer of legitimacy,\u201d said Acting United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Matt Kirsch. \u201cI am grateful to law enforcement for digging beneath the veneer and finding that these establishments were causing real harm in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

These defendants created a large, complex illegal gambling operation, both online and in person in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Lakewood, Denver, Aurora, and Greeley,\u201d added FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek. \u201cTheir illicit proceeds led to crimes involving money laundering and fraud against the US government, among other violations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Arvay is scheduled to be sentenced on December 12. He and Walker face up to five years in prison and a $250K fine. Because of the money laundering charges, Sugar could face a term of more than 20 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal jury in Denver has convicted a local man of running an illegal gambling business that employed a fake cryptocurrency to conceal the exchange of gambling credits for cash. Jonathan Arvay, 38, was found guilty of one count of conducting an illegal gambling business and one count of conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":331043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88702],"tags":[82402,82370,92363,92365,92364],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDenver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-09-19T18:30:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-19T19:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1296\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\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\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/\",\"name\":\"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-19T18:30:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-19T19:18:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg\",\"width\":1296,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Players at a Denver arcade in October 2017 playing \u201cfish-shooting games\u201d of the kind that were employed at Arvay\u2019s Player One establishment. (Image: CBS Colorado)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"illegal gambling\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-gambling\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket that Used Sham Crypto\"}]},{\"@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\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"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-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto","description":"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto","og_description":"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-09-19T18:30:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-19T19:18:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1296,"height":733,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/","name":"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket That Used Sham Crypto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-19T18:30:35+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-19T19:18:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Jonathan Arvay operated the Player One arcade in Denver, which offered illegal games via a cryptocurrency \u201cObsidian Digital Asset Coin.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/fish-shooting.jpg","width":1296,"height":733,"caption":"Players at a Denver arcade in October 2017 playing \u201cfish-shooting games\u201d of the kind that were employed at Arvay\u2019s Player One establishment. (Image: CBS Colorado)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/denver-man-convicted-of-illegal-gambling-racket-that-used-sham-crypto\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"illegal gambling","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-gambling\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Denver Man Convicted of Illegal Gambling Racket that Used Sham Crypto"}]},{"@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\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","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-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331042"}],"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\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331046,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331042\/revisions\/331046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}