Latvian Consumers Warned by Regulator Over Rogue Lotteries

The Latvian gambling regulator has issued a warning to customers about sham lotteries operating in the country. The Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection (IAUI) has cautioned any customer who is considering taking part to fully check out the operator online before parting with any cash.

Many of these rogue operators contact customers to claim they have winnings to pay out, and the Latvian regulator is keen to prevent unsuspecting individuals from handing over sensitive information.

Red flags to look out for

The IAUI has admitted that it is very hard to spot a fake lottery operator for certain as many do an excellent job as masquerading as the real deal. However by exercising caution and being watchful the regulator believes that it’s possible to avoid falling into their trap.

Before buying tickets, Latvian consumers should research the company to see if there is any evidence that they are running a legitimate lottery. No money should be handed over if there is no proof that the lottery operate is genuine with a proven track record.

It’s not just the purchase of the tickets that is a problem however as many rogue lottery providers are contacting consumers to tell them of a “win”. The IAUI said any email about a win for a lottery that players don’t remember entering should be viewed with extreme caution.

Fraudsters commonly make contact by telephone as well as by email. The lucky “winner” will be asked to cover the costs of opening an account and transferring the winnings. They are usually also told that they’ll need to pay tax on their windfall.

The regulator said that when contact is made through a public email server such as hotmail and gmail, there is a much higher risk that the email could be a fake. Other tell-tale signs include spelling or grammatical mistakes in the Latvian language; this suggests that a bot is responsible the correspondence and is once again, a scam.

Any individual who has taken part in a lottery and believes that the communication could be genuine should look for confirmation in the details provided. In cases where the winner is legitimate, the operator should provide the name of the individual and the winning ticket number in its response. The player can then check this information against their own ticket to verify the authenticity.

IAUI warned that no reputable lottery would ask for taxes or any other form of payment in order to pay out the winnings. Therefore any company that does should be treated as potentially suspicious.

Seven arrested in football match fixing claims in Latvia

Seven people have been arrested in Latvia over alleged match fixing claims in football.

Latvian police raided Daugava Daugavpils training ground on Wednesday over allegations key domestic and international football games had been rigged, LETA reports.

Responding to the police raid on the training ground, Daugava Daugavpils club director Edgars Limans said: "I believe that the raid was more of a shock therapy for the players before the actual interrogation took place, which lasted for about 40 minutes for each.

"The raid took place about ten minutes after we started training, therefore, the detainees should return to Daugavpils already by Friday," Limans believes, adding that the team should be back in its full makeup already by Sunday.

The arrests come after UEFA alleged a Champions League game between the Daugavpils side and Finnish side FC Elfsborg was fixed. The Latvian team lost the game last year 7-1.

It's not the first time match fixing allegations have been exposed in Latvian football.

Former Daugava striker Stanley Ibe from Nigeria caused uproar last year after saying that all the club players knew that several games had been rigged. Ibe said that the club's coach and players were paid for doing what former president Olegs Gavrilovs told them.

Gavrilovs was disqualified from Latvian football for life in 2009 and is believed to be one of the arrested, media reports say.

Dinaburg later merged with Daugava. Despite the ban, Gavrilovs can still be seen in the stands during almost every game Daugava plays.

Former Dinaburg head coach Tamaz Pertia was also disqualified in 2009 over corruption allegations. but his disqualification was lifted whilst he currently coaches Riga Skonto football club.

Meanwhile, it's believed police searches will be carried out other Latvian football clubs, sportacentrs.com reports. UEFA said it was investigating the conduct of Latvian football club FC Jurmala earlier this year.

Daugava is set to play its next Latvian Higher League match on Sunday against Daugavpils. The club became the Higher League champion in 2012.

Bwin.party look to withdraw from 18 countries.

Bwin.party have announced they are blocking players from 18 countries within the EU and also South America. Those countries involved are Greece, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, Finland, Serbia, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil and finally Colombia.

The move was announced to affiliates by the company on an email on Friday 19th April.

On the email it said that from the 30th April no new singups will be accepted from those countries and also there was a request that all marketing material aimed at those countries be removed. However all existing accounts will remain open, and affiliate commission to those accounts will continue to be paid.

It is thought the move is connected with those countries mentioned looking to reduce or prohibit online gambling within their borders in the future along with the commercial aspect that those mentioned are small in operating value and allows bwin.party to focus their efforts on more lucrative markets such as the US and more recognised and profitable regions such as the UK and Spain.