Austrian imposed almost €0.5m in fines against illegal gambling in Q1

Austria’s financial police have reported on its enforcement actions against illegal gambling in the quarter.

Austria.- The Bundesministerium Finanzen, Austria’s financial police force, has reported that it imposed €492,000 in fines for illegal gambling in the first quarter of the year. It said that it inspected 46 properties, resulting in 27 criminal complaints.

Some 20 of the complaints were lodged in the country’s capital Vienna, leading to fines of €300,000. Magnus Brunner, Austria’s finance minister, said illegal gambling activities weakened Austria’s economy and created “unfair competitive conditions” for those that operate legally. The police also reported statistics on tax evasion and anti-fraud operations for the first three months of the year.

The amount of fines could be even higher this quarter as in April the the Fraud Prevention Office confiscated 76 illegal gaming machines in a series of raids in Salzburg.

Some 15 officers from the financial police and 30 Salzburg police officers took part in the operations, which involved visits to seven bars that were disguised as other types of businesses, including a nail salon, tanning salon and an internet café.

The premises were guarded using magnetic locks and video surveillance. Police had to use “coercive force” to enter five, while a locksmith was needed to enter two. In one case, police returned to a bar they had already visited five days later and found that it had been fitted out with nine more gambling machines, replacing nine that had been confiscated on the first visit.

Austria’s Finance Ministry said those who were operating the machines could be fined as much as €30,000 per machine. Fines tend to average around €5,000.