Argentina orders online gambling operators not to leave the country

An Argentine court has ordered the operators of a controversial online gambling site not to leave the country, using new laws that classify unauthorized online gambling as a federal crime.

Last July, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Buenos Aires suspended the domain of Miljugadas.com, an online betting site based in the province of Misiones. Prosecutor Martin Lapadú also froze bank accounts associated with the site, which he claimed had no authority to take wagers from punters outside its home province.

However, Miljugadas took the action in stride, switching to a mirror domain and continuing to take action from Buenos Aires bettors. Lapadú said at the time that he had yet to identify the site’s principal directors or representatives, but that dilemma has since been rectified.

On Tuesday, local media outlet Diario Popular reported that the Criminal Court of Misconduct had identified Quinton Gregori Marshall, Diego Israel Céspedes, Federico Fernández de Francesco, and Margarita Teresa Boeiro as owners of Eligra Solutions SRL and Miljugadas SRL, which control multiple Miljugadas domains.