Online casino money laundering is very difficult to pull off because of the financial protocols involved.  The vision of the days of the land casinos in the United States in the 1950’s is one of mob-run parlours where anything went.  Fiction was not far from reality in those days as gangsters ruled the roost.  Violence was prevalent, and the laundering of dirty money was easy and safe.  It wasn’t until the United States government got involved that the criminal element was driven out of Las Vegas.

Casinos were the perfect vehicle for money laundering because of the quick movement of large sums of cash in and out of the casino facility.  In fact, the cash transactions take place with such speed in the land casinos that it is hard for the monies to be tracked efficiently and accurately.  Today, the casinos receive the same scrutiny from the U.S. government as the financial institutions.

Money laundering via casino parlours dates back to the 1920’s when gangsters in the U.S., such as Al Capone, hid their laundered money in off-shore Cuban casinos.  This was a great laundering venue because the local regulations were non-existent, and corruption and crime were prevalent.

Today, there is still money laundering in land casinos, but it is more difficult to pull off.  Casino owners in today’s casinos can launder money by overriding the machine’s Random Number Generator (RNG). Many drug cartels have used the land casinos as money laundering intermediaries.  Often, it’s the casino employees themselves who are involved in the money laundering schemes.  As recently as May, 2008,  a casino in Ontario, Canada, was victimized by a money laundering scheme in which large sums of dirty drug money were put into slot machines, and then withdrawn after a few plays in the form of a check from the casino.

Online casino money laundering is far less apt to occur in comparison to the traditional brick and mortar casinos.  The online casino industry does not deal in cash, for one thing, and there is no personal interaction on a face-to-face basis between patron and casino.  Additionally, the industry is well aware of money laundering and has a rigorous regulatory procedure for players before they are allowed to deposit money to play in the online casinos.

Strict player registration and identification verification thwart money launderers from utilizing the online casinos as venues.  In addition, modern software allows website operators to inspect inconsistent gambling behaviours, and halt the transaction before it can be completed.  It is much more difficult to launder money via the online casino gambling websites because of the measures the industry has taken to counteract money laundering attempts.

Online casino money laundering is virtually non-existent at the present time.  However, there is a mandate among all online casino operators to remain vigilant in their efforts to thwart the money launderers.  Online casinos are much safer than the brick and mortar casinos with regard to money laundering.