Authorities in Israel have apprehended 17 individuals connected to second-division football team FC Kiryat Yam after accusations of match-fixing and money laundering.
Current players and senior employees at the club were implicated, according to reports, while there is also suspected involvement of an organized crime group. The accusations of wrongdoing stretch for more than three years.
Club a “platform for criminal activities”, investigators allege
Illegal operations are thought to have occurred in Israel and abroad, with tens of millions of shekels changing hands on the outcome of fixed games, according to police. Suspects were apprehended in morning raids. The police worked in conjunction with the Israeli football federation to gather enough information, executing morning raids on suspects’ homes on Monday morning.
The police said: “The criminal organization used the team as a platform to commit criminal offenses, including suspicion of skewing results, buying and selling games for the purpose of profiting from illegal gambling, and suspicions of double contracts.”
Refuting the claims, team chairman Nissim Alfasi told reporters: “I am shocked and don’t understand what they want from us,” before adding that the club operates “1,000 percent legally.”
Attorneys for the accused are also putting up a robust defence, arguing their clients “do not understand at all why they were arrested” before going on to assert that “certain entities are trying to prevent the club’s promotion to the Premier League.”
FC Kiryat Yam are currently fourth in HaLiga HaLeumit (National League), which is Israel’s second tier. They were founded in 2008 and play at the Kiryat Yam Stadium.
Spate of illegal gambling crackdowns in Israel
It is just the latest instance of illicit gambling activity in the country, which bans online gambling and strictly regulates most other forms of betting.
Earlier this month, law enforcement in Haifa issued multiple administrative closure orders against apartments and businesses used as illegal gambling houses, including venues where undocumented workers were employed and illicit betting took place
Separate raids uncovered illegal gambling dens in Haifa and Tirat Carmel, with computers and cash seized and suspects detained Late last year, police raided an illegal gambling club and seized gaming equipment and cash, detaining several suspected participants.
Currently, gambling is limited to state-sanctioned, licensed operators, primarily through the National Lottery (Mifal Hapayis) and the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB).
The former runs lotteries, scratch cards, and bingo, while the latter oversees sports betting and horse racing. Charity raffles and bingo are allowed under specific licenses. All other gambling, including casinos, private poker, slot machines, and offshore online platforms, is illegal, with enforcement focused on unlicensed operations.
Illegal gambling costing state millions in taxes
A recent market overview published by a private iGaming research site suggests the Israeli economy is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to the Israel iGaming Market Research Report, estimates suggest illegal gaming operations generate an estimated $3.5 billion annually, largely driven by offshore casinos and unregulated online betting platforms, with an estimated 90%+ of the total volume being captured by those entities.
Despite the issues Israel faces with respect to illegal gambling, there is little appetite to legalize the practice.
Gambling has long been viewed as a social harm rather than a leisure activity, cutting across religious and secular lines. Jewish religious law traditionally condemns gambling as unproductive and ethically suspect, which is a stance strongly influenced by ultra-Orthodox and religious parties that often act as kingmakers in coalition governments.
If instances of betting off-the-books continues to grow, though, governments may be forced to act.
Match-fixing on the wane in international football
Despite recent high-profile cases, instances of match-fixing are decreasing, at least according to Sportradar’s most recent annual Integrity in Action report. A total of 721 suspicious football matches were identified worldwide in 2024, an 18% decrease from 2023 figures.
The data comes from monitoring more than 850,000 total matches across 70 sports and identifying 1,108 suspicious matches overall, with football forming the bulk.
The arrests at FC Kiryat Yam highlight the ongoing challenges Israel faces in policing illegal gambling and maintaining the integrity of its football leagues.
While local authorities continue to crack down on off-the-books betting and associated criminal activity, match-fixing remains a concern worldwide, even as recent data suggests a gradual decline. For now, Israeli football and law enforcement remain on high alert.
