Guidelines for European Online Gambling Operators

[alastantiger]

Financial crime is one of the bane of online gambling and should be like one of the most easiest routes to launder money from one criminal organization to another. However, in Europe, there is a new move to tackle it. The EGBA ( European Gaming Betting Association) has unveiled AML ( Anti Money laundering ) guidelines for European Online Gambling Operators:
The guidelines include:

a) Guidance on how such companies should conduct due diligence checks.

b) Reporting suspicious transactions.

c)Risk Assessment

The reasons for these guidelines is to fight against money laundering and financial crime which is quite rampant in the online gambling industry.

The question is, are there any regulatory agencies with such guidelines for online gambling in other continents? And how effective are these guidelines in combating financial crimes?

[Findingnemo]

Almost every country has their regulations towards gambling especially towards money laundering that is why implementation of KYC enforced even on most crypto casinos cause they also follow the gambling guidelines as per their country and it varies from one to another.

[Oshosondy]

But you should also know that all areas of life can be used to launder money. If you are a very rich man, you can launder money. Did you know that many rich people in this world, some of them are full of good activities in the public but full of criminal activities in the dark that no one may know except people like him. It is good to regulate gambling, that is true, but all businesses can be used to launder money.

[uneng]

There isn't an agency responsible for this matter yet, because the regulatory guidelines aren't clear enough about online gambling in the country yet (grey area).

However, there are news saying the governments is willing to regulate it in details this year, due to the raising popularity of sports betting services and frauds involved on the process by scammers.

I believe by the end of this year we are already going to have more updates regards gambling regulations here, although I'm fearful, because it was also said companies will have to be based on the country to be allowed to operate.

[GiftedMAN]

Financial crime is one of the bane of online gambling and should be like one of the most easiest routes to launder money from one criminal organization to another. However, in Europe, there is a new move to tackle it. The EGBA ( European Gaming Betting Association) has unveiled AML ( Anti Money laundering ) guidelines for European Online Gambling Operators:
The guidelines include:

a) Guidance on how such companies should conduct due diligence checks.

b) Reporting suspicious transactions.

c)Risk Assessment

The reasons for these guidelines is to fight against money laundering and financial crime which is quite rampant in the online gambling industry.

The question is, are there any regulatory agencies with such guidelines for online gambling in other continents? And how effective are these guidelines in combating financial crimes?

Gambling guidelines are more strict in Europe compared to other continent like Africa and Asia. The government had been trying all means to hijack criminal activities so that there will be like victim or money laundering. Very soon we should the expecting the government to enforce KYC by all means so that they can checkmate transactions especially in Bitcoin/cryptocurrency so that many of our transactions can be tracked down. This is not going to be easy with time because the government are going to create more force that is going to be tracking gamblers' transactions.

[qwertyup23]

With the rise of the popularity of online gambling casinos, people are taking advantage of this situation in order to elicit illegal activities. From what I know, in the Philippines, gambling company will not be operated if there are no corresponding licenses provided by the government. In addition, there must be some law allowing the privilege for the use of such franchise or operation of this gambling casino, which makes it relatively difficult for people to operate here.

There isn't an agency responsible for this matter yet, because the regulatory guidelines aren't clear enough about online gambling in the country yet (grey area).

However, there are news saying the governments is willing to regulate it in details this year, due to the raising popularity of sports betting services and frauds involved on the process by scammers.

I believe by the end of this year we are already going to have more updates regards gambling regulations here, although I'm fearful, because it was also said companies will have to be based on the country to be allowed to operate.

I agree with you. This space is relatively new especially that its popularity started during the covid pandemic. The government started to realize that majority of the people preferred to gamble online. That is why, they have to strengthen their regulations against money laundering and other similar illegal means.

[tabas]

The question is, are there any regulatory agencies with such guidelines for online gambling in other continents?

Yes, majority if not all, they've got certain rule about money laundering and they're setting an agency that focuses and deals with it like an anti money laundering agency or council which makes them easier to move and gather information and investigate with such potential financial crime that has been made and of course, makes them easy to coordinate with respective agencies for the arrest of the suspects.

And how effective are these guidelines in combating financial crimes?

They're effective because if a casino isn't compliant and cooperative, they're going to be against the government with such set rules towards the combat of AML.

[Davidvictorson]

We are all aware that money laundering is still one of the biggest challenges that casinos face, even though I believe that some of the operators are complicit in the crime. While I praise the efforts of the European Gaming and Betting Association in setting forth these guidelines, I would say that, in my opinion, without enforcement, these guidelines from these regulatory bodies will remain very ineffective. From the article, I didn't see the enforcement mechanism put in place. It would have also been great to know what these gambling operators should expect if the guideline is not adhered to.

[darewaller]

We are all aware that money laundering is still one of the biggest challenges that casinos face, even though I believe that some of the operators are complicit in the crime. While I praise the efforts of the European Gaming and Betting Association in setting forth these guidelines, I would say that, in my opinion, without enforcement, these guidelines from these regulatory bodies will remain very ineffective. From the article, I didn't see the enforcement mechanism put in place. It would have also been great to know what these gambling operators should expect if the guideline is not adhered to.

Was it really an issue? I guess not really. This was the reason on why they are in demand and there are some who directly benefiting from it because they can get bribes for the launderers. There are still measures that are being placed now like the KYC and the rule of wagering the deposit first before someone can withdraw it. This is to possibly prevent money launders from mixing their coins on the gambling site.

The consequences must be harsh for someone who won't follow the protocol given by those gambling regulatory bodies. The casino can be fine with a huge amount. The casinos can also be shutdown. And lastly, the operators can go to the jail.

[Casdinyard]

But you should also know that all areas of life can be used to launder money. If you are a very rich man, you can launder money. Did you know that many rich people in this world, some of them are full of good activities in the public but full of criminal activities in the dark that no one may know except people like him. It is good to regulate gambling, that is true, but all businesses can be used to launder money.

So true. A lot of billionaires are guilty of this, albeit they do a legal form of money laundering in the forum of donating to charity.

Let's take for example, Microsoft and Bill Gates' Foundation. At a glance you wouldn't suspect it for being a part of money laundering scheme to also avoid paying high taxes right? Wrong. US Federal Tax Law allows these people to get away scot-free with paying taxes if they donated it to charity. And they do donate it to their charity, but to their own charity instead, therefore still keeping the balances within their ball park. Another form of laundering these wealthy people commit is subjecting themselves to 1 dollar monthly salaries. As we all know salaries are tax-deductable and so being a CEO of a large company surely causes you to pay a lot of tax, well not if you subject yourself to 1 dollar payments. You take a dollar of payment every month and the rest of your salary goes towards "incentives like gift cards, travel vouchers, and the likes." effectively cleaning your money and also evading taxes at the same time.