Money laundering is a process used by criminal gangs to conceal large amounts of cash that have been obtained through criminal activity. It’s a very complex crime that involves different techniques that hide the fact that the money has been made illegally.
Some gangs bypass the financial sector altogether but most use financial institutions extensively to disguise their criminal activity. This money is commonly described as dirty money and the act of laundering cleans the money and makes it appear legitimate. Money laundering can also be used to hide the true amount of money that has been made through criminal activity like drug dealing, from the taxman.
The problem is that technology keeps changing and this presents money launderers with new avenues to explore for their illegal activities and this is why money-laundering laws keep on changing as well. Money laundering is mostly feared now because it can be used to fund terrorism.
In the past a main avenue of money laundering was through gambling and gambling establishments and this was mostly fuelled by the dominance of the mob in the gambling industry. With mob rule a thing of the past, money laundering through gambling has decreased substantially.
However, organized criminals, who not only ran casinos, tarnished the early years of Las Vegas by using these gambling establishments to widely launder their money too. It wasn’t until the 1980s when the FBI finally began to convict the heads of these criminal organizations for serious crimes, that the Las Vegas link to mobsters finally ceased.
Crime didn’t end suddenly in Las Vegas, but the 1990s did not see the return of mob rule or the levels of serious crime that tarnished the 1970s and 1980s. Now Las Vegas is still a major tourist attraction and the gambling venues are heavily regulated, this has made it an unattractive place for criminals and criminal gangs.
A New Image
It is not only Las Vegas that has become respectable, gambling in general across the western world has been transformed into a mainstream pursuit that is safely enjoyed by millions of people everyday. In the UK, gambling brands sponsor football teams, TV channels and primetime hit TV shows.
Gambling brands are frequently advertised on TV both before and after the 9pm watershed. Online slot gambling at EasySlots brings in millions of pounds of revenue each month and it has become a major form of entertainment in the UK and around the world. In the United Kingdom the UK Gambling Commission licenses and regulates online slots casinos and this has helped improve the image of gambling immensely.
Money Laundering and Online Slots Gaming
The incidents of money laundering through online slots gaming casinos is very small. The majority of licensed online casinos are highly transparent about their business operations. If a casino has been issued a license then you can have peace of mind that their games and accounts are all above board. The chances of you or your favourite online slots casino being embroiled in money laundering these days is thankfully no longer a concern amongst the gaming public.
