Iran Breaks Up Vast Online Gambling Network, Points Finger at UK

The most organized internet gaming and betting network targeting citizens of the Islamic Republic was "identified and destroyed," according to a statement released by Iran's Intelligence Ministry on Saturday.

In exchange for "huge taxes from fraudulent and illegal funds," the ministry said that the UK government was "turning a blind eye" to the "London-based Mafia network" known as Nitro Bet, or "Nitrobet."

It's unknown why Nitro Bet, a company not well-known for offering online gambling in the UK, would have to pay taxes to the British government on wagers placed in Iran. That is, unless it was a covert division of a more well-known gaming firm.
However, Iran asserted that Britain had "virtually opened the door" for illicit activities, such as money laundering.

35K Bank Accounts in the United States

Since the revolution of 1979, Iran has prohibited gambling since it is forbidden to Muslims per the Quran. Islamic Quran refers to games of chance as "abominations of Satan's handiwork" and a "grave sin." However, authorities find themselves in a game of whack-a-mole with nimble operators situated abroad, making it challenging to enforce the ban.

According to Iranian intelligence services, Nitro Bet was taken down after 14 months of "complicated intelligence research and surveillance."

According to the Intelligence Ministry, the gaming network possessed about 35K domestic bank accounts and 1,200 payment channels.

These were probably so-called "farmer accounts," so called because that's how online casinos that cater to the lucrative underground market in China do business. Gamers' personal bank accounts are purchased or rented by gambling sites from common people, with the assistance of agents situated in a certain market. This typically refers to China's rural poor, or "farmers."

Through the mechanism, illicit operators can transfer their winnings from gambling outside of the nation. Although Iran is bound by certain international financial sanctions, remittances from Iranian bank accounts to Western nations are unrestricted. 

‘Decadent Culture’

Additionally, according to the ministry, Nitro Bet was creating a network of influencers on social media to "denigrate Islamic-Iranian values and normalize the decadent culture of gambling in Iran's Islamic society."

Five "managers" who were part of the network were taken into custody by intelligence officers in Iran. The defendants are charged with running internet casinos, earning illicit income, and engaging in economic sabotage.

According to Article 705 of the Islamic Penal Code, engaging in unlawful gambling can result in a sentence of one to six months in prison, up to 74 lashing, or both if the conduct is performed in public.

According to the website Iran Human Rights Monitor, a law that would have allowed the death penalty for operators of illicit online gambling was submitted to the Iranian legislature in 2021. It was not signed into law.