Police in Athens arrested 69 people after raiding a clandestine casino that did brisk business on one of the city’s main highways, a short distance from parliament, authorities said on Saturday, cited by AFP.
The casino, housed inside an Internet cafe, had cleared over a million euros since April from slot machines, and is believed to have had an overall turnover of “several million”, the police said in a statement.
Most of those detained in the raid on Friday were patrons but included a policeman suspended for gambling who worked there as a bouncer, police added.
Gambling is only legal in Greece within licensed establishments.
Illegal operators face prison sentences of between three and 10 years while players could be jailed for up to three months.
Police crews on Friday confiscated over 100 betting machines and seized over 130,000 euros ($169,000) in cash.
Greeks are avid gamblers. The culture ministry, which supervises gaming in the country, earlier in the year said there were believed to be over 250 betting websites, up to 20,000 slot machines and up to 150,000 computers running gaming programmes in the country.
It added that the illegal turnover from all games of fortune is estimated to be worth 10 billion euros annually.
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