Is Gambling Generally An Illicit Activity?

[SamReomo]

Gambling isn't an illicit activity by itself but when gamblers use laundered money for the purpose of gambling then that makes it an illicit activity. The online gambling isn't like the tradition gambling where gamblers had to carry out cash in order to gamble. These days it's much easier for gamblers to transfer crypto-currencies into their casino's wallet address and they are good to go. In fact such form of gambling is allowed in many countries and governments doesn't really care much about the ones who do online gambling.

Any activity that involves use of money in order to gain profits can be illicit or legitimate and it depends on the users that how they consider such activities. If the users who wrote that Wikipedia article consider gambling as an illicit activity then that's their opinion about gambling however if gambling done for entertainment and it's done without any harm then it's not worth to consider it as an illicit activity.

[Hispo]

I think whoever edited that Wikipedia article did it in the context of gambling being an activity which is highly taxable in the United States of America.
So if you managed to hit a jackpot in a casino or win a significant amount of money because of your gambling sessions, you may feel uncomfortable with having to pay big taxes because of the place you live in.
Some may even be tempted into councealing the origin of that money, as a way to avoid taxes.

Or perphaps, the author of the article wanted to mean the specific case of countries where gambling is explicitly illegal, it comes to mind Saudi Arabia and other Republics governed under the Sharia law.

[goxcraft]

It depends on where you live and how much you are willing to gamble. When the amount is big, many question arises if that black money or not. Where I live, it's totally fine to gamble as long as you can prove that the money you are using isn't from any illegal source. But in some countries, gambling is totally prohibited. That doesn't mean people aren't gambling, and when they do, it's considered illicit. Most of the time, gambling is used as a money lundering method. So, yeah, it is illicit in a way, but not totally. Different places have different laws. There isn't any universal law to determine if it's illicit or not.

[Slow death]

This wikipedia should have stricter criteria to avoid spreading misinformation, in my country the game is legal and just like in many countries the game is legal. So you can't keep saying that gambling is illegal when it is something visible to anyone who does research and will see that there are many countries where gambling is legal. and it cannot be said that money laundering is the process of hiding money that comes from gambling, this would mean that people who play in the casino would not be able to withdraw money to the bank and for that they would have to take the money physical and then lie that it was money earned from other businesses

but we see people playing in physical casinos and who also put their casino winnings in the bank, so this definition that is on wikipedia is a lie, they are distorting the truth, I hope someone reports this so it can be erased and they put a true definition and Don't demonize gambling, I don't know why the person who wrote this definition on Wikipedia was lying, but I hope this type of thing doesn't happen frequently. unfortunately in some countries and people they don't like gambling and they blame gambling for everything wrong that happens to them, I remember that 15 years ago I saw people from my country with this bad behavior

[Finestream]

 Hi guys, coming through with a rather odd question this morning.

So, i was looking up on Wikipedia the meaning of Money Laundering , and below is a quote of how the site defined the term "Money Laundering"

Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime.

So, after i saw that Gambling was mentioned or listed among the listed illicit activities through which money can or could be laundered, I can't help but wonder if gambling is actually an illicit activity.

Wikipedia did not mention gambling being an illicit activity in their definition of gambling here, why then did they mention gambling as one of illicit activity through which money laundering can be carried out?

Please check this out and share your thoughts.

Yes, gambling will always be an illicit activity for majority of the people, most especially in countries where they banned gambling in order to control the people that get into gambling addiction. But for some countries who are very open to gambling activities as long as they are done in regulated casinos, then gambling is already legal and gamblers would not be prohibited to gamble at all legal casinos.

Maybe what is meant in the Wikipedia  is that gambling will also be an illicit activity if it's done illegally.  But if someone does it because the country certainly approves gambling, then I don't think gambling at this certain country is still considered an illicit activity.

[Rruchi man]

~

An activity is only illicit because the government calls it so. If activities like drug trafficking, human trafficking, bribery etc. are no longer considered illicit by the government, people will think of it as such too because the government plays a big role in shaping the opinion of the society and how people see things even without them knowing.

Gambling is illicit only in places where their government consider it an illicit activity. In other places, it is an activity for fun.

[Sandra_hakeem]

So, after i saw that Gambling was mentioned or listed among the listed illicit activities through which money can or could be laundered, I can't help but wonder if gambling is actually an illicit activity.

No... That's actually what they meant.. it's one of the ways to syphon cash  and enhance money laundering... It's been perceived that way and that's exactly why alot of countries have banned globally recognized casinos, and have created thiers specially on Thier close monitoring... With that, money laundering is curbed in the said countries - atleast through gambling!

Wikipedia did not mention gambling being an illicit activity in their definition of gambling here, why then did they mention gambling as one of illicit activity through which money laundering can be carried out?

They didn't .

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

[Accardo]

Gambling is not necessarily an illicit activity, although it's connected to such due to the possibility of money laundering. That's why casinos often have this rule that you cannot withdraw deposited funds when you don't wager at least 1x of your original amount. It prevents money laundering somewhat, because it poses a risk to the perpetrator by hindering them to deposit and dip out with the funds by withdrawing.

It's important to know that business consists of the black market. Where illegal products are being controlled officially. Casino could be used to launder money. Not just on the player's end. They may be doing the KYC stuff and trying to stop players from laundering money, to keep the eyes of the government away from them. Underground trades can occur between the officials of the casino and some underworld organizations to move a huge sum of money. Which profit can change forever the welfare of the casino and it's workers.  Most offline casino owners, we see, always live a large and luxurious lifestyles. Owning different properties. The casino expose them to numerous wealthy men. Not all, do legal businesses. The owner of the casino can also get offers from the illegal business men to help them launder money. These things happen underground, it's not about us, the players. Hence from the definition and the collocation of gambling and money launderings. It still shows how cheek and jowl the both are in the eyes of the government. Who have numerous times figured out that casinos are being used to launder money. Remember that money laundering is mainly in cash. If it goes through the bank, it's easily traceable. Thinking of players as the money launderers is quite wrong. Because players deposit in different form, like through cryptocurrency. They have exposed IDs held by the casino for the Government. A money launderer that thinks of executing his task by depositing and withdrawing his funds after wagering some amounts, is not the kind of money launderer the government is searching for. The underground businesses have nothing to do with the bank. That's why they launder money into banks through a one time transfer. From the casino. The bank won't ask the recipient much questions. But following the process of depositing to the bank, then buy crypto, deposits and withdraw. They'll be enough loopholes already before the money gets successfully laundered. Even the gold sellers launder money through. They send gold in return to the recipient. That's money laundering. The person can sell his gold and get transfer to his bank or even cash.

Any possible paths or ways could really be that make use to launder money and this isnt only on means of gambling but also in other methods or ways itself.It is really just that been part in todays society and completely stopping with these kind of transactions seems to be that impossible. This is why governmetn did really impose such laws and regulations with these businesses yet they do know that making transactions
and bypassing up big amounts wont really be that hard into this area on which its not shocking that they would really be targeting out on getting a good hold with this industry.

Unless the escape goat decides to turn himself in, they would be no catch. Most of the arrested and jailed money launderers, chose jail. Maybe to escape from a bigger trouble or go solve a bigger dispute. People think differently, but we do think everyone thinks just like we do. Every story consists of both sides. Most money laundering activities we here of imprisoned participants. The mistake comes within themselves. Maybe a dispute or long term agreements that may have been breached. Secrets too could lead them to submit to the government agencies. Because the methods of such transaction would rarely be known, without an internal issue. Even in the news I see more of embezzlers being arrested than launderers. They may have done the business to avoid tax or other things. Hence, the government administered the law so that whenever anyone is caught, and found victim, they'll go in for it. And serve the state. Many industries and transactions go on unknown. Despite the equipment and technologies used by law enforcement agencies to trace people's information. It's still difficult for them to get the money laundering practitioners. The underground economy would have been dwindled by the government long ago. If not for the organizations and rules controlling these people. While they target such industries, it'll be difficult to get hold of such industry. The government benefits through games like gambling. So, they may not target with much energy towards an endless and fruitless investigation

[maydna]

Gambling is an activity that provides pleasure, but certain people use gambling as a place to launder money from their illegal activities. This makes the government try to control casinos so they are not used for illegal activities. The government also asked casinos to implement policies to carry out KYC on their members, including those suspected of carrying out illegal activities.

With the rise of this illegal activity and the use of gambling, the government is increasingly wary of money laundering, which can occur in many activities, including gambling. However, gambling is not an illicit activity because some countries allow gambling, and there are no money laundering activities in those casinos because of government inspections.

[mvdheuvel1983]

Please check this out and share your thoughts.

My thoughts is that gambling should be done responsibly  and should be done by kids who have no reason to gamble.

If should be able to tells kids about the dangers of gatting addicted to gambling. They are all the fun things to do aside gambling. If you are not having fun, then you are addicted. This is a good sign for gambling addiction and they need help urgently.

As per illicit, it is not illicit unless you are trying to cheat the casinos or the casino is a terrible one and it is trying to cheat the customers knowing that they cannot do anything like report them the gambling regulatory authorities.

[acroman08]

-snip
So, after i saw that Gambling was mentioned or listed among the listed illicit activities through which money can or could be laundered, I can't help but wonder if gambling is actually an illicit activity.

-snip

Please check this out and share your thoughts.

this is just my pure and personal opinion, the act of gambling is not and should not have been considered an "illicit activity", gambling is just an activity for a lot of people to enjoy and hope to win money, but since gambling is a popular(and to be honest, I think also successful) activity to be used by criminals for money laundering, the government/society has deemed it to be almost always connected to illegal activities.

[robelneo]

As for my research, the term illicit generally refers to something that is not legally permitted. Gambling, in many jurisdictions, is not an illicit activity as long as it is regulated by the government or other authorized bodies. However, unregulated or unauthorized gambling can be considered illicit. Here in our country, for example, gambling isn’t entirely illegal. There are forms of gambling that are authorized by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). However, any form of gambling not authorized by PAGCOR is considered illegal. Laws such as Republic Act (R.A) 9287 denounce illegal number games and serve as the country’s law against illicit online gambling.

https://justicesnows.com/illegal-gambling-in-philippines/

I remember online cock fighting was then legal in our country it was so popular and it was so new to the masses that those who are into arena cockfighting become its followers and players but compared to cockpit cock fighting there is a time limit and there's allowed days to hold cockfighting compared to online cockfighting where you can do it 24/7 and because of this so many players lose their money, became compulsive gamblers, cockfighting was ordered to be stopped even though it's bringing millions of pesos to the government every month, so from being legal because it was regulated and was licensed by the government it becomes an illicit activity.

So the government is the one who defines what is legal and illicit activity what is legal now in your country could become illegal and considered illicit activity based on how your government defines it.

I don't totally believe in Wikipedia because all entries on their page are editable and those who contributed may not know all the facts about a given subject, so when it comes to what is illicit and what is not, check how your government defines it based on their by-laws.

[Wiwo]

I think whoever edited that Wikipedia article did it in the context of gambling being an activity which is highly taxable in the United States of America.
So if you managed to hit a jackpot in a casino or win a significant amount of money because of your gambling sessions, you may feel uncomfortable with having to pay big taxes because of the place you live in.
Some may even be tempted into councealing the origin of that money, as a way to avoid taxes.

Or perphaps, the author of the article wanted to mean the specific case of countries where gambling is explicitly illegal, it comes to mind Saudi Arabia and other Republics governed under the Sharia law.

The author may have want to give a generally bad notion of gambling,  taking it entirely out of context and also making it look as if getting involved in gambling equals money laundering since he points out gambling to be one of the many examples of money laundering acts.

Furthermore, we should know that Wikipedia is edited randomly and sometimes,  the information written there is nearly accurate, just like in this case,  because we have many countries where gambling is regulated and licensed which means the government have adopted it just like every other taxable activity.

[lionheart78]

Gambling being an illicit activity depends on which country you are.  It will be illicit to countries that is against gambling and ban any gambling activities while in countries where gambling is legal, it is not considered an illicit thing.

The definition tells exactly how a thing becomes illicit;

il·lic·it
/i(l)ˈlisət/
adjective
forbidden by law, rules, or custom.

Since to some countries, gambling is legal, they consider it not an illicit activity even when money laundering is rampant in that country.  In short, the illicit activity there is money laundering but not gambling. 

In conclusion, whether gambling is illicit or not is subjective.

[0t3p0t]

It actually depends on various factors. However, it is safe to say that gambling can pose significant risks and should be approached with caution. Legal regulation and responsible gambling practices can help mitigate these risks and ensure that gambling remains a form of entertainment rather than a harmful addiction.

This is really up to us on how we deal with gambling and also the regulation we have in a country we are in. In third world countries illegal gambling is more common and has huge effects in the peace and order within the community.

[PX-Z]

Usually it's about religion why gambling is usually banned on these countries, example muslims. Casinos are not common on muslim countries, but there are some exceptions for some reasons. Second its morality, since gambling causes addiction, mental illness that is not easy to cure i dont know even if its curable debt, corruption.

[Darker45]

Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime.

I guess the point of Wikipedia is that illicit gambling is one of those activities from which the money made will have to go through the process of laundering to make it appear as if it's made legitimately.

That's not saying that gambling itself is illicit. That's simply saying there's illicit gambling, which we all know, and whatever money that comes out of it, just like money coming out from other crimes like drug trafficking, corruption, and so on, needs to be processed to make it clean.

There's illicit gambling everywhere and then there's legal, licensed gambling.

[alegotardo]

 Hi guys, coming through with a rather odd question this morning.

So, i was looking up on Wikipedia the meaning of Money Laundering , and below is a quote of how the site defined the term "Money Laundering"

Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime.

So, after i saw that Gambling was mentioned or listed among the listed illicit activities through which money can or could be laundered, I can't help but wonder if gambling is actually an illicit activity.

Wikipedia did not mention gambling being an illicit activity in their definition of gambling here, why then did they mention gambling as one of illicit activity through which money laundering can be carried out?

Please check this out and share your thoughts.

I disagree!

In fact, there is a very "close" connection between them, as casinos can be used to give dirty money a legal appearance. An example: a public official/politican who receives thousands of dollar as a result of corruption can justify the amount as resulting from fictitious winnings in the game of roulette. To do this, simply take the illicit resources to the casino, buy chips from other players (at a premium) without betting on any specific game, and present them to the cashier, claiming to have won such amounts. The money received will appear to be legal, because it was “won” in games on site. It is no surprise that international entities, such as the FATF, publish recommendations for public authorities to pay attention to the facilities that casinos can offer to conceal dirty money.

But, this doesn't mean that such establishments will always be an oasis for money laundering. There are countries that live with the exploitation of gambling and have developed, over time, interesting mechanisms to prevent casinos and the like from being used to clean resources of criminal origin. There are recommendations for such establishments to create and maintain customer records, track player activity (for example, to identify whether they actually play or acquire chips in another way), avoid cash transactions, and so on

[electronicash]

 Hi guys, coming through with a rather odd question this morning.

So, i was looking up on Wikipedia the meaning of Money Laundering , and below is a quote of how the site defined the term "Money Laundering"

Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is usually a key operation of organized crime.

So, after i saw that Gambling was mentioned or listed among the listed illicit activities through which money can or could be laundered, I can't help but wonder if gambling is actually an illicit activity.

Wikipedia did not mention gambling being an illicit activity in their definition of gambling here, why then did they mention gambling as one of illicit activity through which money laundering can be carried out?

Please check this out and share your thoughts.

I disagree!

In fact, there is a very "close" connection between them, as casinos can be used to give dirty money a legal appearance. An example: a public official/politican who receives thousands of dollar as a result of corruption can justify the amount as resulting from fictitious winnings in the game of roulette. To do this, simply take the illicit resources to the casino, buy chips from other players (at a premium) without betting on any specific game, and present them to the cashier, claiming to have won such amounts. The money received will appear to be legal, because it was “won” in games on site. It is no surprise that international entities, such as the FATF, publish recommendations for public authorities to pay attention to the facilities that casinos can offer to conceal dirty money.

But, this doesn't mean that such establishments will always be an oasis for money laundering. There are countries that live with the exploitation of gambling and have developed, over time, interesting mechanisms to prevent casinos and the like from being used to clean resources of criminal origin. There are recommendations for such establishments to create and maintain customer records, track player activity (for example, to identify whether they actually play or acquire chips in another way), avoid cash transactions, and so on

like Las Vegas?
whether the money that circulates there are among those being laundered the government doesn't seem to want to look on it. you rarely hear news about money laundering in vegas. the country needs the money that comes from casinos, otherwise, it won't survive, it depends on the gambling tourists. this is not just in nevada but all other countries as well where casinos are thriving.

if the government really deemed them to be illicit, they would have caught those people red-handed. and i mean people are more afraid of IRS than the police if they just audit their money in and out it will be horrifying to own a casino.  the fine line between what the government considers illicit and allowed is greyed by money.

[HelliumZ]

Usually it's about religion why gambling is usually banned on these countries, example muslims. Casinos are not common on muslim countries, but there are some exceptions for some reasons. Second its morality, since gambling causes addiction, mental illness that is not easy to cure i dont know even if its curable debt, corruption.

Casinos and gambling are also legalized in predominantly Muslim countries, but gambling has been outlawed by parliament in most Muslim countries. There is no problem here the problem is day by day the young generation is becoming addicted to casino and gambling and there is massive moral degradation. Apart from the human degeneration of the youth, heinous crimes like theft, robbery, murder and rape are being organized.