Overview
- The multi‑agency sweep, which ran March 18 across 74 Berlin sites, seized 120 devices and drew about 400 personnel from police, prosecutors, customs, tax investigators, and local regulators.
- Device analysis identified roughly €180,000 in takings, which prosecutors now seek to seize through asset‑recovery orders.
- Officials are using Einziehungsbescheide, legal orders that let them seize an illegal machine’s full turnover over its operating period and can reach hundreds of thousands of euros.
- Investigators describe newer tactics by operators, including software and tax‑chip tampering, back‑room setups behind legal machines, and cheap Chinese units that accept cash and allow unlimited play.
- At a Friday briefing in Schöneberg, Berlin leaders cast the raid as part of twice‑yearly joint operations and cited 2024 figures of 55 cases, 371 suspects, and €6.9 million in losses tied to organized crime.