More than a dozen companies through whose accounts millions of transactions are made in Montenegro escape the control of state authorities. Huge sums of money flow under the activity of "information technology", the law on games of chance is violated and it opens up space for money laundering, it was confirmed by research by "Vijesti" and the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG).
Only a few companies found by this research had a total turnover over 100 million euros in the past years. It does not have to be the final sum, because many companies from this network, although they have existed for years, have never submitted financial reports to the Tax Administration, so no data on their turnover is known. Data on financial statements were taken from the official website of the Tax Administration based on PIB numbers. The Tax Administration is of the opinion that it does not comment on data about companies, unless there is a report or some other dispute.
According to information provided by CIN-CG and "Vijesti", a bank in Montenegro was recently informed by a Western European partner that performs correspondent work for it, that it does not want to mediate in a transaction of around 50 million euros, according to the network of these companies in Montenegro. The Montenegrin bankers recalled that they should not have done this themselves, in accordance with the financial responsibility obligations they assumed in the contract with the European partners. The money then found a channel through another one of the 15 banks currently operating in Montenegro, said a source from "Vijesti" and CIN-CG from financial circles.
Companies from this network are registered for "information technologies", none of them have a license to organize games of chance, and they are located at disputed or non-existent addresses in Podgorica, such as Cetinjsku put bb or Njegoševa 19 in Podgorica, an entrance that has long since ceased to exist , because the "Hemera" hotel expanded to it four years ago. There are at least seven companies from this group at this address.
The company "Seabet", from Cetinjsko puta, which has one employee, and a turnover of 60 million euros for the past four years, had the largest turnover that was officially reported. The company is active because a few days ago it submitted a report to the Tax Administration that in 2017 it had an income of 13,99 million euros. The income in 2016 was 8,6 million, in 2015 it was 16,7 million, and in 2014 another 21,5 million euros. He is the founder of Seabet Limited from London, and the director is Drago Vukčević. Journalists were unable to get in touch with him, as well as with other persons who are mentioned as directors of similar companies, because apart from the name, there is no other information on the websites.
This company previously operated the site seabet.com, which is now not for direct betting, but offers information and links to other sites where possible. It also says that he has a betting license from the Montenegrin authorities. The only authorized body, the Gaming Authority, did not issue a license to that company, and there is no information about it on its official website.
In February 2015, the Administration for Games of Chance signed a contract on the concession for the organization of games of chance for 21 sites with the company E Gambling Montengro, which "Vijesti" wrote about and which was founded by Milovan Maksimović, the uncle of former Prime Minister Milo Đukanović. as well as Hungarian citizens László Sárdi, former deputy director of CKB banka in Podgorica and Endra Kodolanja. One of those sites was seabet.com. E Gambling later gave those sites, as well as twenty others, to related companies in Montenegro through which traffic was carried out.
The Gaming Authority terminated the concession with E Gambling in the middle of last year, because that company did not connect its sites to the state's online monitoring system.
Šardi is the director of three more "information technology" companies Web Garden Montenegro, Saipan, Duas, which reported no income. The headquarters of Web Garden is in Capital plaza - on the company's Hungarian website it is stated that it is managed by Kolodanji, and that Drago Vukčević is on the board.
Although the concession with E Gambling has been terminated, another company that managed its sites is the active "Multi Index", whose owner and director is Sukhminder Singh So. Her site mountbet.com is still active. She reported an income of only 433 thousand last year. Revenue in 2016 was 304 thousand, but they showed working capital of 17,7 million euros. The origin of that money is not clear from the report. In 2016, this company was checked by the inspection for games of chance, which determined that the turnover through its accounts during 2015 and 2014 was 7,7 million euros. In 2015, she officially reported an income of one euro, and in 2014 - zero euro. At the same time, working capital for those years amounted to 5,9 and 4,1 million euros.
This example shows how these and similar companies can find a way to hide the real traffic through the account in official reports. The inspection then submitted its reports on this and several other companies connected to E Gambling to the prosecution and the Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering, which are still investigating them.
The company Maxiwins from Cetinjsko puta was also under investigation at the time, because it organized games on the website maxiwins.com, and the inspection determined that it had a turnover of 2013 million in 2,5, 2014 million in 16, and 2015 million in 1,7. 2015 million euros. This company also officially presented other figures, so that the income for 2014 was zero euros, and for 8,2 it was 2016 million. It was officially shut down in XNUMX, and its website maxiwins.com became online.casinocity.com. The owner and director was the Italian Lorenzo Macchi.
Exclusive Limited from Cetinjsko puta bb previously had a "contract" with E gambling on managing the site exbinog.com, now that address leads to another active betting site admiralspot.com. In the last two years, she did not submit financial reports, and the previous ones were symbolic in 2014 with 29 thousand and in 2015 with 334 euros. The founder is WGCDD LLC, and the director is Ivan Vučinić, whose contacts were unavailable to journalists until the publication of this text.
The company Euromirbet from Cetinjsko puta, whose director is Stojka Jakšić, and whose owner is the company Reload, had two sites from E Gambling that are still active - olimp.com and zenitbet.com. This company did not submit reports to the Tax Administration. Its neighbor Bet-Football Limited from Cetinjsko puta bb organizes betting on the site bet-football.com. The director is Stojan Vučinić, and the owner is Attila Lakatos. The company Soft Cube International, from the same address, whose director is Jelena Knežević and whose owner is Cem Kara, manages the site golden90.com. She has submitted a report only for 2014, when she showed an income of 50 thousand euros. Casinoextreme.eu is owned by the company Wincity, from Cetinjsko put, which did not submit reports to the Tax Administration. The director is Nikola Milanović, and the owner is another company, Almond INC, of unknown origin.
The company Stone Bet from Njegoševa Street operated the site stonebet.com, which now leads to stonebet24.com. Director because Gabor Menyhart, and the owner of Black Hill Investment INC. Even this company, despite its active website, did not submit reports to the Tax Administration. Rummy Party, from Cetinjsko puta, has a website of the same name, rummy-party.com. According to the registry, Endre Kodolanyi, Sebestyen Grau, Zoltan Franka and Zsolt Huszak, who is also the executive director, have 25 percent ownership each. The company did not submit reports.
There are also companies registered in Podgorica whose names are also used by betting sites, but it cannot be reliably determined that they are theirs. This is the case with Fenomenbet and Sky Exchange. Both are from Njegoševa 19.
For a dozen other companies from Cetinjsko puta bb and Njegoševa Street in Podgorica, it is difficult to find out what their websites are.
From the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (USPNFT), when asked by "Vijesti" whether they control these companies and what happened to the earlier investigation regarding the application for possible money laundering in the case of E Gambling, they answered that it is a secret.
"The Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism undertakes all measures within its competence regarding all legal and physical persons who are connected with money laundering and financing of terrorism, regardless of whether the data on these persons was obtained from their own sources, from the taxpayer , from other state authorities, or from partners from abroad through international cooperation. In this context, the data available to the Administration is marked with the appropriate level of secrecy and as such may not, in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, be submitted to third parties for inspection", the administration stated.
Two and a half years ago, the Special State Prosecutor's Office took the documentation on the case of "E gambling" due to the possible illegal organization of games of chance and money laundering from the inspection and the Directorate for Games of Chance after writing "Vijesti", but nothing new happened after that.
"Regarding your questions, we inform you that the case that was formed in the Special State Prosecutor's Office in connection with E Gambling Montenegro is still in the investigation phase," the prosecutor's office announced.
The Judicial Council "News" and CIN-CG announced that so far in Montenegro there is only one final verdict for money laundering, and that was from 2005. The Gaming Authority did not respond to the question of whether they deal with this phenomenon and these companies.
One address, and 12 companies at Negosova 97 in Cetinje
In Cetinje at Njegoševa 97, where until recently the slot machine of the Lutrije Crne Gore club was located, as many as 12 "information technology" companies were registered, some of which are connected to companies that previously leased betting sites from E gambling.
One of those companies is Milga, which "Vijesti" previously wrote about and which organizes games of chance on the website 1bet2bet.com. In August of last year, a player from Nikšić told "Vijesta" that he bet on this site, but that they did not pay him 17.700 euros. He later checked that the money from his card went to the account of Milga London, owned by Milga from Cetinje. This site is still active. The owner of Cetinje Milga is Richard Kavicsanszki.
At this address, he is the owner of Wiki 770, whose websites wikiwins.com and casinocerise.com are active. This company reported an income of 2015 euros in 2.900 alone, in other years it is zero, but the report on cash flows through its account is also empty.
At the same address is the company Kopikas Enterprises, whose owner and director is Attila Gal, to which the website bitcasino.io is directed, as well as Jconsultancy, Emre Kirdi, which has the website jojobet2.com. Kopikas Enterprises, although founded in 2014, has never submitted financial statements to the Tax Administration. Jconsultancy teaches them, but with revenues of zero euros for the last two years, and in 2015 the revenue was ten thousand euros.
VIP Online Technology, owned by Zsuzsanna Bari and director Ivan Marković, has the website exclusivebet.com, and Beluga, owned by Christopher Mark Nagy, has the website belugabahis67.com. None submitted financial reports.
The company Iconsulting, whose owner and director is Seyit Bilali Bilgic, has an active website safirbet.com, but has not submitted reports to the Tax Administration, as well as Vconsultancy, whose director is Emre Nuhoglu and whose founder is Emre Kirdi, and which has a website vevobahis418.com.
The law forbids, the inspectors stand still
The Law on Games of Chance prohibits participation in foreign games of chance for which stakes are paid on the territory of Montenegro; collection of stakes in Montenegro for participation in games of chance organized abroad; as well as selling, holding, assigning, issuing, advertising and any other presentation of foreign lottery tickets and tickets (slips) for games of chance on the territory of Montenegro. A fine of 1.100 euros to 20.000 euros is provided for the violation of this article.
The Gaming Inspectorate, based on earlier reports from Montenegro beta and a defrauded player from Nikšić, announced that they are not responsible for websites on foreign domains.
Montenegro bet: Both the organizers and the state lose a lot of money
In Montenegro, there are now only four legal betting sites of local organizers. From the Association of Organizers of Games of Chance, Montenegro bet says that "it is an open secret that there are significantly more of them, domestic and foreign."
According to their projections, at least five million euros from the Montenegrin market are diverted annually to illegal sites for games of chance. How much of that the state loses is more difficult to estimate, because the organizers should pay 10.000 euros per site per month, as well as 10 percent of their earnings, i.e. the difference between payments and payouts.
"That loss affects the budget of Montenegro, legal organizers and other indirectly involved users. In addition to illegal online sites, illegal land-based games of chance are also a big problem, as is the case with terminals installed in catering establishments contrary to the decision of the Constitutional Court, as well as illegal sports betting and slot clubs located on the outskirts of cities and villages across the country. The huge number of illegal organizers, which is constantly increasing, is impossible to control with only a few inspectors for games of chance, and we hope that the Government will transfer the powers or at least the control of work permits to other inspection services, as is the case with other activities", stated from this association.
When asked if they know what happened to their report against E Gambling from three years ago, they answered that they only get information about that case from the media and that the competent prosecution did not inform them if and how the case ended.
Poland abolished foreign websites and increased revenue by 80 percent
Romania is the first EU country that succeeded three years ago in banning the operation of foreign sites on its territory after having a dispute with Malta, where the most betting sites are registered. Malta argued that a site that has a concession in one EU country can operate throughout the EU. After the victory of Romania, other countries also followed its path because they realized that they were losing a lot of money.
Recently, Poland also did it, after which the turnover of its organizers of games of chance and the state's income from it increased by 80 percent. Montenegro earns about 11 million euros annually based on concessions for games of chance.
The president of the association of organizers in Croatia, Ivo Bagarić, said that according to their estimates, around three billion kuna, which is around 400 million euros, are paid annually from Croatia to foreign betting sites. Their campaign for the Croatian government to start restricting foreign websites has begun to yield results.
"We managed to get the Ministry of Finance to finally start doing something about the blocking of foreign websites. They are currently focused on finding a solution, and we expect that they will have a solution soon. Since, in order to go for real IP blocking, we have to change the entire law on games of chance, we will try to find a solution within the existing law. We don't know what kind "but we certainly expect something positive for us in the end", said Bagarić.
Montenegro beta states that banning measures within the EU work with over 90% success rate and complete progress has been achieved exclusively through administrative measures.
"The best results were provided by measures in the form of warnings, fines, creation of a list of prohibited websites, and media warnings to companies that organize games of chance without a license. Attempts to ban it in the form of technical measures did not produce any results," the association stated.
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