{"id":60587,"date":"2017-10-10T18:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T01:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=60587"},"modified":"2017-10-10T17:31:56","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T00:31:56","slug":"high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"High-Stakes Belgian Cops Stole Identities for Online Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Belgium, at least 30 police officers are under investigation by the country\u2019s gambling commission over allegations they stole the identities of hundreds Belgian citizens to open <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/australia-approves-new-sweeping-online-gambling-consumer-protections\">online gambling<\/a> accounts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60588\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60588\" data-style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60588\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg\" alt=\"Belgian police officers stole identities to gamble online \" width=\"670\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650-142x80.jpg 142w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-60588\"class=\"text-description\">Certain members of Antwerp\u2019s police department have been betting the equivalent of a month\u2019s salary on online gambling sites, being barred from gambling on anything in the country. (Image: dhnet.be)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Law enforcement agents are prohibited from participating in all forms of gambling in Belgium and their national registration numbers appear on a blacklist distributed among licensed gambling sites, which are required to block them. But these gamble-happy cops from Antwerp found a neat way to circumvent the ban: identity fraud.<\/p>\n<p>According to the country\u2019s gambling commission, Antwerp\u2019s finest were a high-rolling bunch, which suggested to commission head Peter Naessens that their interests were \u201cnot purely recreational.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Fine Blue Line<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cSometimes large sums have been gambled that are in excess of an average monthly wage [for a police officer],\u201d said Naessens, who indicated that the investigation might snowball.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From the modus operandi, and the experience we have gained since the start of the investigation, we assume that this isn\u2019t just a problem in Antwerp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Antwerp Police Spokesman Sven Lommaert wasn\u2019t so sure. \u201c&#8221;Of course, we take this very seriously, but the investigation is still in its infancy. At the moment, we are assuming that dozens of people are involved, but there is a chance that the number is much smaller,\u201d he said hopefully.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p><strong>\u201cIt is simple: our people aren\u2019t allowed to gamble. Those that do must face the consequences,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Hundreds of Accounts<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The rogue officers\u2019 racket came to light during a separate investigation into allegations that certain Antwerp police officers were extorting money from illegal immigrants. Investigators analysing the bank statements of an officer who had been suspended from duty in relation to investigation found that he had received numerous payments to online gambling websites.<\/p>\n<p>Further probing discovered \u201chundreds of accounts\u201d on gambling sites had been created by the Antwerp police force, who had been found to have been regularly gambling during work hours.\u00a0Investigators are now trying to determine whether any of the gaming sites are at fault.<\/p>\n<p>Online gambling is strictly regulated in Belgium. In order to qualify for a license, operators must partner with a legal local land-based casino and locate their gaming servers within Belgium. Those who don\u2019t are blacklisted, and unlicensed operators targeting Belgian citizens are liable to hundreds of thousands of euros in fines, and, potentially, imprisonment of up to five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Belgium, at least 30 police officers are under investigation by the country\u2019s gambling commission over allegations they stole the identities of hundreds Belgian citizens to open online gambling accounts. Law enforcement agents are prohibited from participating in all forms of gambling in Belgium and their national registration numbers appear on a blacklist distributed among [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":60588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,19,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>High-Stakes Belgian Cops Stole Identities for Online Gambling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Police in Antwerp, Belgium are accused of opening hundreds of online gambling accounts\u00a0\" \/>\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=\"High-Stakes Belgian Cops Stole Identities for Online Gambling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Police in Antwerp, Belgium are accused of opening hundreds of online gambling accounts\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-10-11T01:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-11T00:31:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"376\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\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=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/\",\"name\":\"High-Stakes Belgian Cops Stole Identities for Online Gambling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-11T01:00:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-11T00:31:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Police in Antwerp, Belgium are accused of opening hundreds of online gambling accounts\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/high-stakes-belgian-cops-stole-identities-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1068948650.jpg\",\"width\":670,\"height\":376,\"caption\":\"Certain members of Antwerp\u2019s police department have been betting the equivalent of a month\u2019s salary on online gambling sites, being barred from gambling on anything in the country. 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