Laundering in casinos
The classic image of a money launderer ? High rolling in a casino, laundering his money while having a martini.
This week a drug trafficker in Ontario pleaded guilty to money laundering by feeding bills into casino slot machines, playing for a bit, then cashing out. When the machine issued a stub for the remaining credit, it would be taken to the cashier for a cheque to be issued by the casino. The cheque could then be deposited in a bank account as legitimate “winnings.”
Not a method Pablo Escobar used I suppose. Buying chips, or having someone else buy them, and later claiming them as gambling profit is not the most foul proof laundering system. Most (regulated) casino’s by now have security professionals that will check the validity of the winning claim. And they will all file SAR’s/CTR’s if the amount involved exceeds $ 10k. And we all know that a significant money laundering operation is not about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Try feeding the proceeds of a reasonable XTC operations in a slot machine….
Of the 195,253 SARs in the USA in 2008 by the way, 183,072 were from depository institutions, 10,845 were from money services businesses, 1,260 were from securities and futures businesses, and 76 were from casinos. Not a lot. In the Netherland, 0.7% of SAR’s are related to casino’s. In Canada, FINTRAC reported 9 casino related suspicious transactions.
A real money launderer would of course own a casino, not play in it. Although I once encountered a criminal that claimed to have won the lottery. He had almost $ 1 mio, all legit (he said). Remember the ads you had in the good ol’ days (I will buy your winning lottery ticket and will pay you 10% more than you won..); perhaps someone got really lucky and gained a lot of dirty cash (and a money laundering problem for himself)… He got away with it (at least he paid taxes…). A bold approach, for a criminel to buy a winning lottery ticket at a premium and present it to the tax office. Still, what would a judge or jury do when presented with the complete Soprano cast that won lottery after lottery ? Lucky guys ? Will the unlikeliness of it be enough to sentence them all ? It won’t happen; but let me know if you encounter a lottery winning criminal. Imagine the chance of that : )
