Gambler

Legitimate gamblers become involved when criminals buy their winning tickets or vouchers at a premium, transferring the appearance of legal winnings to the launderer.

• By claiming these tickets as their own, launderers transform illicit funds into documented gaming profits.
• Financial institutions have difficulty distinguishing these funds from genuine gambling proceeds during subsequent deposits or transfers.

Gamblers participate in chip dumping by:

• Knowingly colluding with other players to deliberately lose or transfer chips, thereby masking illicit funds as normal gaming activity.
• Using accounts funded by stolen cards or rapid e-wallet deposits, then withdrawing 'winnings' as legitimate proceeds.
• Structuring repeated chip transactions in small increments to avoid triggering suspicious transaction alerts at financial institutions.

Gamblers, whether acting directly on their own or on behalf of a criminal network, launder proceeds by:

• Purchasing chips or online credits using illicit funds.
• Placing offsetting bets or minimal wagers, ensuring most funds remain intact.
• Collecting payouts or redeemed chips as seemingly legitimate gambling winnings.

These transactions, when deposited into financial institutions, appear lawful and obscure the illicit origins.

Gamblers introduce illicit cash into the betting system through structured wagering.

• Repeated small bets below reporting thresholds mask large sums of criminal proceeds.
• Winnings are presented as legitimate gambling returns, further complicating financial institutions’ detection of illicit activity.
• These tactics obscure the source of funds, reducing effective oversight within the broader financial system.

Legitimate lottery players may unwittingly enable laundering by:

• Selling their winning tickets to criminals in exchange for a premium.
• Allowing criminals to redeem prizes as if legitimately won, obscuring the true origin of the funds.

This arrangement hinders financial institutions' efforts to identify beneficial owners and suspicious transactions.

Legitimate gamblers can be co-opted or involved when:

• Criminals purchase their genuine winnings at a premium, turning illicit proceeds into officially recognized gambling payouts.

Financial institutions often receive these funds as normal gambling gains, making it challenging to distinguish lawful transactions from those that mask criminal proceeds.

Legitimate bettors or gambling patrons can be exploited by:

• Selling their winning tickets at a premium, enabling criminals to present illicit funds as lawful gambling payouts.
• Unknowingly providing a legitimate facade for illicit buy-ins, making it harder to differentiate clean funds from criminal proceeds.

This tactic complicates financial institutions’ scrutiny of potential money laundering activities.