December 16 - A pair of Israeli brothers, one a resident of Tel Aviv and another who lives out of the country, have been arrested and charged with operating an illegal online gambling network aimed at Israeli gamblers.
Both brothers are former basketball players.
A total of five individuals were arrested, some of them accused of providing technical support the website internet1x2.com.
The gambling site directed its products to Israelis and was provided in Hebrew. The payment options were also those that were geared towards Israeli punters.
A number of gamblers were also detained by the special Lahav 433 unit which deals with internet gambling cases.
According to the police, the website operated off a server located in Eastern Europe.
The brothers have argued that since they were not located in Israel, they were not breaking the law.
However, the police say that the site clearly targeted only Hebrew speakers, and therefore the operators were in the wrong as Israeli law states that gambling sites may not offer their services to local residents.
Players at internet1x2.com were allowed to bet on a wide range of international sports, as well as play popular casino games such as poker and live gaming.
This is the second bust by the Israel police on gambling networks. Last month Lahav 333 uncovered an operation that rolled over hundreds of millions of shekels.
