International on-line gambling racket dismantled

Illegal international on-line gambling after all, is not a stranger to households of moneyed gamblers in the country.

This was uncovered yesterday following the dismantling of an alleged Las Vegas, Nevada-based Internet gambling scheme by agents of the United States Secret Service and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in a series of raids in Pasay and Pasig cities.

Senior Superintendent Raul Bacalzo, CIDG-National Capital Region director, said combined US Secret Service agents and Philippine Center for Transnational Crime operatives raided I-Active Design Incorporated at 20-C Antipolo Street, Pasay City early the other day.

Raiders at the establishment owned by Sodin Magno, later found that the company’s computers had direct access to games and financial matters in Las Vegas USA, making it an international on-line casino, through computer link-up.

Illegal operations of on-line casinos in the country and Las Vegas USA were downloaded by the firm’s computers, Bacalzo said. Copies of the records were furnished by the US Secret Service headed by Special Investigator Victor Lorenzo.

Meanwhile, a separate police team also swooped down on 211-3 Soliven street, Green Park Village, Manggahan, Pasig City following reports that the place was also being used as a front for on-line international gambling.

The raids resulted in the confiscation of 14 computer monitors, 15 central processing units, one fax machine; one personal computer camera: three interrupted power supply (UPS) units; three computer hubs; one external modem and two diskettes.

One compact disc, five hard disks, one Pentium notebook computer with Sony motion eye, 39 compact disks and 52 floppy disks and other computer gadgets were also seized.

Bacalzo said the computers served as a base which every moneyed gambler could easily access from their computers at home.

"The betting is in dollars. Imagine, how many thousands of dollars are being taken out of the country daily through this illegal on-line internet gambling," Bacalzo explained.

Interviewed later, I-Active Inc. president Agapito Buenaflor III, and the firm’s vice president, Rommel Estioco, denied their company is engaged in on-line gambling. They claimed that their group is simply composed of programmers and artists who developed on-line casino programs for their client, Vegas USA.

They added that they also maintain other projects, such as corporate web sites and E-commerce-related sites for buying and selling goods through the internet.

They also claimed that they are working hand-in-hand with Vegas USA on its casino software, and also in the design of its web page where everyone can access any form of gambling vice the Internet.

The firm, according to the two officials who were invited for questioning at the CIDG office in Camp Crame, develops gaming modules like blackjack, videopoker, Paigow, baccarat, siot machines; craps and roullette.

And to oversee the international gambling operations, the firm also developed management software, where one can see and monitor the day-to-day transactions of Vegas USA customers wagers, chip deposits, account withdrawals, payment processing and connection links to the credit card interface of the processing bank.

Magno, who was the alleged maintainer and part owner of the international gambling company in the Philippines, vehemently denied any involvement in illegal gambling activities.

He claimed that he merely acted as a liaison officer of the US-based gaming firm. Despite his denials, CIDG lawyers are preparing charges of violation of Republic Act 8484 (Access Devises Regulation Act of 1998) and Presidential Decree 1602 (Illegal gambling) against Magno and officers of I-Active Corporation. -Jaime Laude