The operations of the criminal network of “investment” casino scammers, dismantled by the Greek FBI several days ago with proceeds exceeding €1.3 million, are being “exposed” as new revelations come to light. Specifically, new testimonies about the case of the criminal organization accused of fraud and fake casino investments have been made public through MEGA’s “Live News” program.
It should be recalled that Spyros Martikas was explosive in his claims that he fell victim to the businessman – member of the criminal organization, regarding the fraud exceeding €1.3 million, and had spoken on the show days earlier, even stating that the arrested individual is connected to the death of singer Pantelis Pantelidis. Specifically, Spyros Martikas speaking on Live News had revealed that Pantelis Pantelidis was one of the victims of the criminal organization that promised investments and mentioned that on the night he was killed, he lost a total of €250,000 at a rigged table.
Casino “investment” scam: The arrest of the well-known businessman and 5 other individuals
It should be noted that the well-known businessman was arrested on 13.11.2025 for participation in a criminal organization accused of fraud, while all 5 arrested individuals allegedly promised casino investments with 20% capital increase per month. Among the victims is Spyros Martikas, who allegedly lost a very significant amount of money because of them.
Casino “investment” scam: What Pantelis Pantelidis’s friend says after Spyros Martikas’s revelations
Following the revelations by the pharmacist and former reality show contestant, a friend of Pantelis Pantelidis also spoke on the MEGA show, who was actually with him at the card table on the night he died. According to him, the amount his friend lost that fateful night was not €250,000 as Spyros Martikas claimed, but approximately €15,000-20,000.
“The amount mentioned by Spyros Martikas that Pantelis Pantelidis lost that night does not correspond to reality. The actual amount is much smaller and amounts to approximately €15,000-20,000. It’s impossible he lost a larger amount. The singer was there for about 4 hours. I didn’t see an anxious and sweating person from the amount he lost, as was heard. In fact, I remember Pantelis saying ‘the money I lost, come to the club tomorrow and throw it as flower petals.’ Pantelis earned about €40,000 for each of his performances. It’s not logical that he would panic over such an amount. Pantelis knew all 8-10 people who were at the club. He had friendly relationships with them. Now, whether the game was rigged to take that money from Pantelis, I cannot know,” he said, speaking on the “Live News” show.
“Since 2009 I had started working in illegal clubs,” says dealer
At the same time, a dealer from illegal clubs also spoke on the MEGA show, explaining how a card game is rigged. “Since 2009 I had started working in illegal clubs. It spread by word of mouth and initially, in ’09 and ’10 when all this racket first started, players who had money usually came. Not second or third-tier players. These were the ones who had a lot of money. There are names that I have ‘dealt’ to both in villas and clubs, mostly in villas, including singers and very well-known big businessmen. However, there are also games that have been rigged. We were few dealers in Athens at the time and they would tell us there was a game there and we would go and deal the cards. There were 8 to 10-11 players in front of us.
This device is like a watch. It’s a specific deck of cards, and this specific deck is used in all illegal poker clubs. The design on the back is identical, but each card has a mark that can only be read by the button on the watch. The watch button has a camera and each card has a specific mark at a certain point. Each deck has 52 different engraved points,” he said and continued:
“The dealer would cut it and leave it. Two players were definitely in on the scam and one outside with an earpiece who had the computer. One player necessarily had to sit exactly to the left of the dealer. As soon as the dealer cut the deck, he would leave it for one to two seconds for the camera to read it and tell the person outside where the hand would go. Then he would send them a message that the hand would go to position 3 and position 6 would be second. Someone could win a hand with mismatched and small cards while another might have two aces and lose. And that’s how they rigged the game with the deck.”
Moreover, when asked how many times he had been present at illegal clubs with the accused, he answered: “About 15 times at (beep) initially and then 4-5 times at villas. I didn’t know if Pantelidis was in a game at (beep) there. I didn’t know that. But I wasn’t completely shocked when I heard his name.” When asked if all 15 games were rigged, he said: “Not all 15, but 2-3 were, because I knew who I had to my left and they had told me to leave the deck down for 2-3 seconds to ‘read’ the deck. They weren’t targeting one player. They were targeting two or three players. When 8-9 players were sitting at the table, 2 were in on the scam. The rest were there to be ‘eaten up.'”
