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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 'The Gambling Mole': A Mysterious |
| 2026-02-05 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Leonid Tsukanov [REGNUM] A new scandal—and this time, a rather unusual one—has erupted within the Israeli security services. A security official has emerged who enjoys gambling on political issues on the Polymarket platform and exploiting his official position to improve his chances of winning. Israelis do have reason to be concerned: many of the factors that ensured the success of their risky bets were known only to a select few. This means there's a clear threat to national security. However, the problem may not be where they're looking. THE NAMELESS DISPUTANT The commotion was sparked by the activities of an unknown player. Having registered on the platform under the nickname RicoSauve666 in June 2025, he placed three large bets on Iranian issues—the most popular and controversial at the time. The first was that the Iran-Israel war would begin in June (although most players in the game assumed the diplomatic squabbles would last until at least August); the second was that it would happen on Friday (and not on any other day); and the third was that the conflict would not last long. In the latter case, the stakes were practically unique: the disputants unanimously believed in a protracted conflict, surpassing the war with Hamas in scale and duration. Two weeks later, RicoSauve666 hit the jackpot: his predictions netted him over $154,000, setting a platform record. Although the mysterious bettor retreated into the shadows after the June events, news of him quickly leaked to forums and from there to the press. The success story attracted the attention of competent authorities. A STRANGER AMONG HIS OWN For several months, the investigation proceeded behind closed doors—each of Israel's intelligence agencies (AMAN military intelligence, Shin Bet counterintelligence, and Mossad) combed through the personnel files of its employees, searching for anyone who might have been prone to gambling, but apparently without success. At least, they never found RicoSauve666's trail. However, several other bets on less-discussed events (for example, on Israeli ultra-Orthodox protest activity, relations with Palestinian factions, and the prospect of criminal prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Qatargate case) were discovered, presumably made using internal information. The players who made the most accurate predictions were preliminarily "marked." Once the internal investigations had run their course, the intelligence agencies began to look at each other with distrust. Most of the criticism was directed at the Mossad: given the overall secrecy of Israeli foreign intelligence and its unofficial status as the "elite of the elite," its officers were quite likely to test the system's resilience. This was especially true since outgoing Director David Barnea had largely let go of the reins in recent months, leaving the investigations to his successor, Roman Gofman. Mossad supporters, however, retort sarcastically: they say that the structure's personnel remain more resilient in the face of challenges than other Israeli intelligence agencies, and while the Shin Bet and Aman were rocked by numerous scandals involving the infiltration of Iranian spies, mafia elements, and other marginal elements into their ranks, the Mossad remained virtually impregnable. Identifying the "gambling mole" is hampered not only by interdepartmental disagreements but also by the specifics of the platform itself. It operates on blockchain technology and has a high level of personal data protection. All payments are processed exclusively in cryptocurrency, and the administrator only knows the clients' wallet numbers. Even if the company's founder, Shane Coplan, had agreed to share the data with Israeli investigators, it would have made little progress in the leak investigation. Then the investigators decided to take a risky step: taking the case public. The news was published by all major Israeli media outlets and widely circulated by bloggers. Apparently, the security forces hoped to intimidate the mysterious player and discourage him from using classified information for his own enrichment. However, he interpreted the signal in his own way. BREAKING THE PATTERN A few days ago, RicoSauve666 returned to the platform, renaming himself Rundeep. He once again began making risky bets on upcoming events in the region. Specifically, a war between Iran and the United States would begin on January 31, 2026. Due to Donald Trump's abrupt shift in position, this bet backfired; Tehran and Washington agreed to a technical meeting in Ankara (tentatively scheduled for February 6). However, Rundeep didn't despair and pushed back the forecast to early March. Supposedly, by then, the United States and Iran would exhaust diplomatic avenues and resort to arms. An unexpected forecast error further confused the investigation. If the mysterious player was unaware of the intermediaries' plans, then they certainly weren't Mossad agents, as Israeli intelligence officials were involved in consultations with the Americans and were aware of the plans' changes long before they were leaked to the press. Therefore, Rundeep's identities lie elsewhere. But there's also no guarantee he didn't deliberately commit forgery to mislead investigators. While the case lacks leads, the player's identity remains in dispute. Against this backdrop, some observers are timidly hinting that Israel shouldn't focus solely on its own structures. Especially since there was a similar case before: someone named "Freddie 9999" bet nearly $3 million on Joe Biden not running for a second term in favor of Kamala Harris, winning over $80 million. At the time, it was claimed that the man behind the bet was a career CIA officer, but this was never proven. Given the close interaction between American and Israeli entities, it's possible that the Israelis' partners simply used secondary information to improve their personal financial situation. And although in this case the "mole-gambler" in Israeli structures is a figment of the imagination of competing agencies, this does not remove the threat of premature disclosure of sensitive data. |
| Posted by:badanov |