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One of the seven defendants charged in an alleged multi-million dollar illegal gambling ring has agreed to a plea deal.
The defendant in question, Carol Cote, has agreed to plead guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering charges in a deal made with prosecutors involved in the case involving suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez. The details of the deal have not yet been made public.
Cote is a Marion County resident who was named as a co-defendant in the racketeering case. She is due to be sentenced on October 13 in Lake County. A racketeering conviction in Florida is considered a first-degree felony, with a potential penalty of up to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. However, a plea deal may have negotiated a more lenient sentence for Cote.
The Sheriff Marcos Lopez racketeering case continues
The illegal gambling operation is alleged to have made more than $21 million, with Cote among seven people accused of helping or managing the operation. Authorities claim that Lopez used the illicit money to fund his election campaign to become sheriff, and then continued the ring while serving as sheriff.
Lopez would then allegedly go on to use his influence within the community to protect the club from legal scrutiny, as well as secure assets like leases and cash payments.
He was arrested on June 5 and is set to stand trial on October 20, also in Lake County. Cote is believed to have acted as the bookkeeper for the organization, making her responsible for managing the group’s financial records. Her guilty plea deal is the first conviction for the seven defendants. The charges faced by the group as a whole include racketeering, like Cote, as well as various alleged conspiracy charges.
Featured image: Osceola County Sheriff
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The Singapore Police Force (SPF) arrested seven men under suspicion of conducting an international illegal online gambling operation.
The operation took place on October 5, leading to the arrest of seven men aged between 28 and 53 years old. The SPF collaborated with the FBI and Meta to gather evidence supporting the arrests.
Back in March 2023, the SPF first received reports of victims being convinced to open accounts with an online gambling website and buy gambling credits by transferring money onto the site. Although the victims would at first be able to successfully redeem their winnings from games, continuing to gamble would spark a choice between winning more money or purchasing more credits.
Several victims of the scheme lost more than S$175,000 (around $135,000). Early investigation from the SPF led the authorities to believe that an international group was behind the illegal gambling ring, targeting victims across Asia, not just in Singapore.
At this point, the SPF began collating information from the FBI and Meta about the alleged gambling activities. Further probes led to the arrest of the group members, with officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and Police Intelligence Department mounting simultaneous raids at multiple locations across Singapore.
As well as the arrests of seven men, cash, 15 bank accounts, and a luxury watch were seized, with a total estimated value exceeding S$500,000 ($386,000) were seized. Electronic devices such as computers, mobile phones, and SIM cards were also seized by the police.
What’s next for the alleged illegal online gambling ring?
Four of the men will be charged in court on October 6, while police investigations are still ongoing against the remaining three men. The potential punishments for the charges levelled against the men include financial fines of up to S$500,000 and imprisonment of up to 10 years.
“The Singapore Police Force takes a serious view against all forms of illegal betting activities and will continue to take tough enforcement action and prosecute those involved to the fullest extent of the law, wherever they choose to operate,” said Deputy Director of CID, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SAC) Yeo Yee Chuan. “To counter transnational organised crime, the SPF will work closely with foreign counterparts to detect and deter these syndicates. Members of the public are advised to steer clear of all forms of illegal gambling.”
Featured image: Singapore Police Force
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Two Swedish gambling organizations are clashing publicly over suggested restrictions on the gambling market.
The Swedish Trade Association for Online Gambling (BOS) and the government-owned gambling company Svenska Spel are publicly clashing over suggested plans for restrictions on the gambling market in Sweden. The two organizations have both published op-eds in the country’s largest business newspapers outlining their views.
The difference in opinions on restrictions
On the one hand, Svenska Spel advocates for a proposal that would classify games according to risk. High-risk games would then be subject to special restrictions on a number of topics, including marketing.
“Our proposals show that there is an opportunity to turn the tide in order to protect the regulated market and consumer protection if the gaming industry, relevant authorities and legislators act together,” wrote Anna Johnson, President and CEO of Svenska Spel in her signed op-ed. “For over a hundred years, Svenska Spel has taken responsibility for ensuring that gaming is both safe and entertaining. We want to contribute to the gaming market developing in the right direction: where consumers are at the center and where we can protect both the pleasure and security of gaming.”
On the other hand, BOS argues that such a restriction would affect online casinos more than any other sector of gambling, an area that is already competing heavily with unlicensed and often illegal gambling companies. Indeed, the Swedish Gambling Authority shut down three such unlicensed operators earlier this year.
“The proposal that Svenska Spel dresses up in the name of consumer protection would therefore, on the contrary, harm consumer protection, as we know that a transition from licensed to unlicensed gambling entails an increased risk of problem gambling,” wrote BOS Secretary General Gustaf Hoffstedt.
Hoffstedt went on to argue that such a restriction would benefit Svenska Spel commercially, as the company currently sells lottery tickets and online casino games.
“A ban on advertising for online casino would mean an enormous advantage for the monopolist Svenska Spel, which then, as the only operator on the Swedish gambling market, can indirectly continue to advertise online casinos via its lottery products,” claimed Hoffstedt.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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Switzerland’s gambling regulator has launched a probe into the sales of FIFA-backed blockchain tokens ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The regulator, Gespa, typically oversees lotteries and sports betting. The probe aims to uncover whether FIFA is selling the chance to win tickets to World Cup matches, or offering something like gambling services. If it’s the latter, the regulator needs to establish if FIFA complied with local rules.
Gespa director Manual Richard shared an email statement with Bloomberg, writing: “Based on an initial internal assessment, it cannot be ruled out that the offering on collect.fifa.com may be relevant under gambling legislation. Gespa will now proceed with further fact-finding to determine whether regulatory action is required.”
As it stands, FIFA has not been accused of any wrongdoing at this early stage.
How do the tokens work?
The sale of the Right-To-Buy tokens gives buyers the right to purchase guaranteed entry to a World Cup game. Token holders can buy a ticket for a specific match (even if the teams and seats are not yet known) or trade them on secondary markets.
Some tokens are tied to a specific national squad or match, but come with more risks attached. As one example, the Right to Final token guarantees a chance to buy a final ticket but only if the team whose token they’ve bought makes it that far.
That means that some tokens may not lead to a match, depending on the stipulations that are attached. According to the Athletic, tens of thousands of Right to Buy tokens have been sold by FIFA, earning the organization an estimated $15 million.
While Gespa doesn’t have direct jurisdiction over FIFA, it can order Swiss-based companies to block any wrongdoing, such as asking Switzerland-based internet providers to block access to FIFA, if violations of local gaming laws are found.
Featured image: Raw Pixel, licensed under CC0 1.0
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A Nevada federal court judge has denied Crypto.com’s bid for an injunction that would allow it to run sports contracts.
Judge Andrew Gordon refused the injunction that would have allowed the company to continue operating contracts for sports events in the state. This comes as something of a surprise to the industry, considering prediction market Kalshi has been allowed to operate very similar services.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board first banned Crypto.com from sports outcome contracts in June 2025, stating that such contracts need to be classified as federally regulated swaps, rather than gambling products. This put them under the powers of the CFTC.
Crypto.com versus Kalshi in Nevada
While Judge Gordon agreed that the CFTC had jurisdiction in Kalshi’s case, he didn’t apply the same argument to Crypto.com. Instead, the judge maintained that Crypto.com’s sports prediction contracts are based on the outcomes of sporting events rather than their occurrence or non-occurrence.

NEW: Nevada federal judge explains on the record that because https://t.co/jeBmEO4GSa’s sports prediction contracts are based on the “outcomes” of sporting events rather than their “occurrence” or “non-occurrence” they do not qualify as “swaps” under the CEA. pic.twitter.com/RrMyytB2ZC
— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) October 6, 2025

“I see ‘outcome’ as different than ‘occurrence, non-occurrence, or extent of contingency of occurrence,’” said Judge Gordon, according to court records. “They’re just different things. If they were all the same, everything would be a swap, and that’s not what I think Congress intended or the CFTC intended.”
That means that they do not qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). Crypto.com intends to appeal the decision from Judge Gordon before the Ninth Circuit. This could be because the CFTC is under increasing pressure from traditional sports betting operators to decide whether such sports contracts are legal or not, with that determination still pending.
The competition to get into sports contracts is heating up, with Polymarket also taking its first steps to launch legal sports betting options. It’s raised concerns among regulators – but doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
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