El Koala

About El Koala

The proposed bill seeks to prevent student-athletes from trading on prediction markets, but does not set any explicit standards on player harassment.

Separately, the two senators wrote a formal letter to a bevy of pro sport leagues last October requesting additional details on the leagues’ interaction with integrity monitors on suspicious wagering.

Despite Tuesday’s memo, it is not immediately clear if any professional sports league commissioners are willing to testify before Congress on some of the most problematic aspects of sports betting.

What is El Koala?

According to Çiftçi, the rapid growth of digital payments and cryptocurrencies has transformed illegal betting into a major conduit for money laundering. 

“Casinos, junkets, cryptocurrencies and underground banking are the most critical parts of the money laundering infrastructure that fuels international organised crime,” he said at the time. “The global gambling market will reach $205 billion in 2030.”

The government blocked 548,420 illegal betting and gambling websites between 2006 and 2025, including 84,000 in 2025 alone. 

How to play El Koala

A source familiar with Raja’s gambling habits told The Telegraph he was a regular visitor to the upmarket Palm Beach Casino and Colony Club in Mayfair, one of London’s most affluent districts.

Raja was reportedly permitted to access as much as £600,000 ($800,000) a day from his bank account to finance his casino play, according to The Telegraph.

“He would play and play, drink and drink, and if he didn’t lose all his money at the Palm Beach, he would then get in a car and go around the corner to the Colony Club,” the source told the newspaper.