Gambling operators have threatened to pull their businesses out of Malta amid reports that a mafia group has infiltrated the sector.

The Times of Malta reported that Malta-based operators are exerting extra pressure on Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) to weed out the gambling firms that are connected to Cosa Nostra kingpin Matteo Denaro and clean up the industry from unwanted and dodgy business.

Citing unnamed sources, news outlet said “a number of companies” would leave Malta if the MGA “failed to clean up the sector.” The operators have expressed concern about MGA’s lack of cooperation in terms of freezing the assets of gambling firms with alleged links to the Italian mafia.

According to the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), the Italian courts have already made an urgent request to the Attorney General in Malta to freeze Centurionbet’s assets after authorities found a connection between the Malta-licensed company and Francesco Martiradonna, son of a convicted mafia boss.