The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has suspended the licences of a number of gaming companies in the country due to alleged relationships between the operators and Mafia-type criminal organisation, the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta’. According to the Times of Malta newspaper, the allegations claim the companies form part of a global network also involving operators in Italy, Austria, Romania and Spain. Led by Italian national Mario Gennaro, the Ndrangheta is said to have set up a number of betting companies in Malta as part of the organisation’s illegal gaming activities. Gennaro yesterday (Wednesday) appeared in Maltese court alongside six other Italians, all…

A judge in Las Vegas has ruled that a lawsuit involving accusations of graft and organised crime ties to casinos owned by the multibillionaire and Republican party funder, Sheldon Adelson, will be heard in the US. The decision raises the prospect of Adelson facing difficult questions about his business practices following allegations by a former chief executive of his highly profitable casinos in the Chinese enclave of Macau that a well-known triad crime figure was used to bring in high-rolling gamblers and of influence peddling with Chinese officials. The case potentially has implications for Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands casinos because…