Gaming & Gambling
Money Laundering in Casinos
Money laundering is a crime that has been around for centuries and is becoming more complex with time. Due to the rise in popularity of online gambling, there has been an increase in money laundering through online casinos as well.
Money laundering allows the inconspicuous exchange of dirty money. In addition to standard casino money laundering, online casinos have become a hub for this illegal activity due to the rising number of online casinos accepting bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This makes detecting illegal activity more difficult.
As a leading global risk compliance platform, Truth Technologies is dedicated to protecting business owners from money laundering crimes. Read on to learn how to detect casino money laundering and more about our anti-money laundering protection programs.
We help organizations across the digital assets sector:
Gaming & Gambling
Next Gen
Decentralized Exchange
Centralized Exchange
What is Money Laundering?
As summarized by the National Association of Realtors, money laundering is the process individuals use to hide or disguise the (usually illegal) origin of their funds. It is a multi-step process in which money is “cleaned” by funneling it through legitimate business transactions.
In terms of casinos, dirty money is exchanged for casino chips, and then traded in for clean cash, presented as winnings. The now clean money is then sent to accounts out of the country, eliminating any trace of illegal activity.
Why Casinos?
There are several reasons why casinos are susceptible to money laundering:
- Large cash flow is often seen as normal – It is not uncommon for someone to walk into a casino with thousands of dollars to gamble. Casinos also provide a certain level of anonymity with simple banking services.
- Everyone is welcome – Casinos allow anyone and everyone to spend money.
- Maintaining good client relationships – Casinos may be less likely to report suspicious activity in order to maintain a good relationship with high roller clients. Casinos, like any other business, have a main goal of being profitable.
In online casinos, money laundering is very similar. In addition to large cash flows going unnoticed, users are able to have multiple accounts. Deposits are made in small amounts to deter any suspicion, which overall makes the transactions harder to detect.
Money Laundering in Casinos Laws & Regulations
According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, casinos that are subject to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) have an obligation to comply with the anti-money laundering (AML) programs that contain procedures to detect and report suspicious activity. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has the authority to investigate any casino for violations of the BSA, including:
- Filing suspicious activity reports (SAR) for suspicious transactions of at least $5,000
- Filing currency transaction reports (CTR) for cash-ins or cash-outs exceeding $10,000
- Complying with certain recordkeeping requirements for up to five years, including a casino’s receipt of funds for each customer, bookkeeping entries for debits or credits into a customer’s casino account, and credit extensions exceeding $10,000
- Implementing AML compliance programs
Red Flags for Casino Money Laundering
There are several red flags to look out for to help identify suspicious activities in casinos and online gambling. To prevent money laundering, be cautious of:
- Any person purchasing a large amount of chips with little to no gaming, then cashing out.
- Two or more customers each purchase chips in currency between $3,000 and $10,000. Customers then engage in minimal gaming and combine chips before one of them cashes out.
- When a person is cashing out chips with sums larger than $10,000, refuses to show a Currency Transaction Report (CTRC), then lowers the amount to under $10,000 before cashing out.
- A person enlists another individual to cash out a portion of the chips to avoid filling out the CTRC form.
- A person attempts to bribe or conspire with an employee to not file a CTRC form.
Truth Technologies Enhanced Due Diligence & AML Screening
Truth Technologies, Inc. (TTI) is a premier provider of worldwide anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, customer identification, and compliance products and services. At TTI, we pride ourselves on working with our customers to tailor our solutions to fit their AML needs, ensuring that each customer’s needs are met.
With the use of Truth Technologies’ Enhanced Due Diligence reports and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Screening technology, we are able to identify individuals who may participate in suspicious activities. The benefits of these solutions include:
- Maintained compliance – You’ll be able to stay in compliance with all US, Canadian, and EU privacy and AML rules. Easily configure accounts using non-editable and comprehensive audit logs for due diligence verification and reporting.
- Ease of use – User-friendly and quick remediation screens, CTR and SAR reporting, real-time APIs, workflow, and Batch Screening give you the ability to review thousands of customers without ever requiring manual data entry.
- Simple integration and maintenance – Our enhanced due diligence technology also features automatic updating to ensure that all of your systems, software, and databases remain up-to-date, with batch processing and integration completed within a day.
- Ability to manage international operations – Our enhanced due diligence and AML screening solutions are available in multiple languages, including English, French, and Spanish, with global watch list support for all names and addresses.
Get Started with an Enhanced Due Diligence Solution or AML Screening from Truth Technologies
If you are interested in learning more, request a tool demo, and see how our products can help you. Let us help you take control of your business with our AML screening, enhanced due diligence, and other monitoring and reporting services.