RCMP make gambling bust

The RCMP say they have made significant developments in an illegal gambling investigation.

Police executed a number of search warrants across the Toronto area Tuesday morning, in connection to a massive bust on Super Bowl Sunday. Police in Ontario say they have nabbed the “management team” of an alleged multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operation linked to organized crime.

It’s a continuation of the RCMP raids that saw six people arrested and $2.5 million in cash seized during a raid at a Super Bowl party in Markham. Police say they made 18 arrests in raids Tuesday in the London, Barrie and Toronto areas. Two of them, however, had already been arrested the first time around and now face additional charges including breaching their release conditions.

Police say the group was running an offshore betting site called the Platinum Sports Book, which officers allege is a joint enterprise between the Hells Angels and traditional organized crime. Today investigators seized $5.5 million in cash and four vehicles as proceeds of crime. Police are still looking for four other people in the investigation and have issued warrants for their arrest.