Casinos and Money Laundering
Money Laundering as defined is cleaning money that came from an illegal or criminal activity. This is done by exchanging the money for an item of equal amount, and later on sold for the same, or deposited in several accounts which will be withdrawn, transferred, or issued checks. So long as the original denomination and place of origin is undetected.
This kind of criminal activity has been existing since the 1960's and until now. It is a crime yet to be solved by the proper authorities. Business establishments are a favorite hang out place for money launderers. It is easy for them to trade money because they purchase using cash. One of the most susceptible places for this are casinos.
Casinos are said to be the hottest spot for money laundering. This is because casinos are open to all. There are many people inside and it is quite a handful for authorities to monitor every customer's activity.
After all, the primary responsibility for casino security is to ensure safety of all their customers and to make sure that everyone has a good time. Besides, it is hard to just pin point anybody in the casino and accuse them as launderers.
Most people who come to play, as well as regulars, often have large amount of money. One false accusation can lead to business loss. Moreover, it will give a casino a bad impression to people especially tourists. Although there are some casinos who tolerate money laundering to happen in their establishments. The foremost reason is it is good for their business. Launderers are also gamblers, although they only play to exchange dirty money with chips, and only spend a portion of the large sum that they have, still they are paying customers.
A second reason is they are protecting their business. Out of fear from those groups who engage in money laundering that they might do something bad to their business, they have no choice but to allow such activity to prosper.
Lastly, because in casinos there are no limits as to how much you can exchange your money for chips and no loss limit. These are the reasons why until now authorities are still struggling to fight this criminal activity and apprehend the people engaged in it.
Proper authorities have been trying to come up with regulations to detect if not stop money laundering. But these regulations will not prosper without the help from the public. We must have a queer eye to people who act suspiciously. For casinos, there should be records of all transactions for reference. And every casino should have limits in chip exchange and losses in order to lessen laundering activities in their establishments.