Inside the Iranian Online Gambling Network That Routed Billions Through Dubai

[fullfitlarry]

The latest story of money laundering and sanction evasion has emerged from the heart of a betting network. According to an exclusive investigative report by Reuters, a vast, illegal online gambling network operating in the Persian language managed to transfer at least $4 billion through an unlicensed Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange named Shelbit. The exchange served not only as a processing engine for betting sites, but also as a critical financial bridge moving funds between sanctioned Iranian economic entities and the global financial market.

https://irannewswire.org/iran-gambling-crypto-network-4-billion-dubai/

Perhaps this could be the biggest news on how Iran was able to stay afloat and even if they are being sanctions by the West, they continue to have funds along the way with billions into this unlicensed crypto exchange until  Dubai Financial Services Authority ordered Shelbit to immediately cease all operations.

But even if they've shutdown this, there could be other unlicensed crypto exchange that will be used by Iran to go around and circumvent the sanctions and earn billions thru illegal gambling sites.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

[Betwrong]

The latest story of money laundering and sanction evasion has emerged from the heart of a betting network. According to an exclusive investigative report by Reuters, a vast, illegal online gambling network operating in the Persian language managed to transfer at least $4 billion through an unlicensed Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange named Shelbit. The exchange served not only as a processing engine for betting sites, but also as a critical financial bridge moving funds between sanctioned Iranian economic entities and the global financial market.

https://irannewswire.org/iran-gambling-crypto-network-4-billion-dubai/

Perhaps this could be the biggest news on how Iran was able to stay afloat and even if they are being sanctions by the West, they continue to have funds along the way with billions into this unlicensed crypto exchange until  Dubai Financial Services Authority ordered Shelbit to immediately cease all operations.

But even if they've shutdown this, there could be other unlicensed crypto exchange that will be used by Iran to go around and circumvent the sanctions and earn billions thru illegal gambling sites.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

[Cleanshit]

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

This are One of the reason today a lot licensed casinos  have a strict AML and KYC checks, things that are often flagged for investigation are unusual betting pattern, massive withdrawals and also lage deposit. Gambling is mostly being abused through money laundering, and also to know it not simple as that of playing little and cashing out, all this tactics regulators and casinos are so much aware of it, that is why any suspicious transactions they do monitor the transactions closely.

[Cointxz]

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

What amaze me is how the heck this illegal exchange and betting platform get a huge fund like that to wash those dirty money? Afaik, this scheme requires a good fund stream from legit user in able to do that and I don’t know where the heck they can get a huge volume for unlicensed casino and exchange.

Or am I missing something here with how they operate to wash their money. Many casino struggles a lot to get customers especially unlicensed casino.

[Porfirii]

Indeed, the volume it was able to process is incredible, we are talking about an exceptional case in which in reality the casino could only function as a cover.

If the news is true, then it is one more case in which a large machinery is used to carry out the dirty work. Traditionally, it has been banks that have intermediated (knowingly or unknowingly) in this type of activity, but new alternatives give rise to this type of innovation. The only thing, is a pity that it is innovated against the law, in the case cited.

In the end, as always, this will mean greater pressure to increase control measures, which will not work so much against those who are dedicated to crime (they already know how to get around the obstacles) but to annoy and reduce the privacy of the ordinary user.

[SFR10]

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

You have a point, but it's worth noting that last time I checked, most AML tools were identifying gambling-related funds ^{[even the licensed ones]} as either a dangerous or a suspicious source of funds and a lot of platforms have started using such tools to flag such funds or transactions automatically ^{[sooner or later, they have to look for another route]}.

[KTChampions]

~
https://irannewswire.org/iran-gambling-crypto-network-4-billion-dubai/

Perhaps this could be the biggest news on how Iran was able to stay afloat and even if they are being sanctions by the West, they continue to have funds along the way with billions into this unlicensed crypto exchange until  Dubai Financial Services Authority ordered Shelbit to immediately cease all operations.

But even if they've shutdown this, there could be other unlicensed crypto exchange that will be used by Iran to go around and circumvent the sanctions and earn billions thru illegal gambling sites.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

I can only welcome what Iran is doing 
True decentralization and the use of cryptocurrencies as originally intended. If they provide services (bookmakers, for example) that are better than existing ones, I see no reason not to use them. It is clear that everything that is in the Iranian ecosystem will be considered dirty in the US ecosystem, but if the Iranian ecosystem is large enough, then the participants in this ecosystem will not care.
The more idiotic regulations I see from "civilized" countries, the more I turn my attention to "totalitarian" ones 

[DPHOR]

Why did they have to go through exchange platform with such huge amount, of course they could be easily exposed because the volume is much and some exchange may not even have up to that amount as liquidity to their site.
This is another reason why people should know what gambling platforms they are using because some gambling platforms may pretend to be real and gain much trust from people and after a while you would see them running away or announcing about their shutdown.

[danherbias07]

Why did they have to go through exchange platform with such huge amount, of course they could be easily exposed because the volume is much and some exchange may not even have up to that amount as liquidity to their site.
This is another reason why people should know what gambling platforms they are using because some gambling platforms may pretend to be real and gain much trust from people and after a while you would see them running away or announcing about their shutdown.

Oh yeah! That could happen. Imagine a very reputable gambling site that will make a deal with the devil, but the price of it is enough to get them through fines and lawyers that will protect them. A one-time deal that will make them rich and escape a probable prison term.

Well, that could happen. But it takes a brave owner to do it. There will be a lot of bashes that will happen and probably death threats, and who would want that? I'd rather keep the gambling site away from politics. Whoever is doing this for Iran is very good at avoiding the police on the internet. 

[cryptoaddictchie]

But even if they've shutdown this, there could be other unlicensed crypto exchange that will be used by Iran to go around and circumvent the sanctions and earn billions thru illegal gambling sites.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

Probably Iran already ahead of this shutdown as they have more puppet companies still on the lose. No wonder they are still alive and kickin in this US war scenario.  Gambling site or even betting platform is one of the probable money laundering environment tjat they can hide their foot prints.

If the site is reputable enough then that means that Iran has a lot of spider legs on the Dubai Govt that work around the process and can bypass the real government. Politics can be bought if the price is right even on an established country like Dubai.

[alani123]

I think western news agencies are completely misleading interpreting this story.

If the sites were operating in the Persian language it was not at all a hot sanctions evasion.
Rather, it was about moving funds from the pockets of the working people of Iran into the pockets of whoever controls the casinos.
And in western standards, things are much more shady. Just try to look into who actually has the controling stake in casinos of the west especially the licensed ones. It's all shell companies and hidden ownership. It could be the mafia behind actual ownership, but just because they forked over a couple millions to a certain government for a license then it's legal. They employ the same scummy tactics to steal people's money and even don't enforce provable fairness. So otherwise it's all the same other than in the name for being "illegal".

[Alpha Marine]

I guess they've got to do what they've got to do. They will find a way to survive somehow since they are being choked with sanctions. Obviously, they will look for ways to evade sanctions, especially since they are fighting an on-and-off war against the US and Israel.
My biggest problem with it is the hypocrisy. They make gambling illegal, then use the illegal gambling to make money.

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

It's not that simple. You can only get away with it when you're not investigated or laundering a relatively small amount that would not attract attention. And even at that, you have to be extremely smart about it.
If you're investigated, the question they will ask is: how did you get the money to stake? That is why it takes more than a couple of people for such operations. I mean, where did one person get a billion dollars to use for gambling? That is why they share the money among hundreds of people and thousands more casinos so it doesn't raise any red flags.

[Findingnemo]

4 billion is not that huge of an amount to make any difference in a country, this is just like a patch or even individuals make use of the language or whatever in their name to make it happen while the blame will go the other way to a government when they get exposed. Money laundering can never be stopped, as long as there is money people will keep finding ways to do it in one or the other way.

[alegotardo]

~~~

Perhaps this could be the biggest news on how Iran was able to stay afloat and even if they are being sanctions by the West, they continue to have funds along the way with billions into this unlicensed crypto exchange until  Dubai Financial Services Authority ordered Shelbit to immediately cease all operations.

But even if they've shutdown this, there could be other unlicensed crypto exchange that will be used by Iran to go around and circumvent the sanctions and earn billions thru illegal gambling sites.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

It is sad to see how people misuse casino and it certainly makes things worse for those of us who gamble just for fun... it is inevitable, unregulated online casinos will always be very attractive for money laundering because they can turn illegally obtained money into funds that appear legitimate to the authorities. Even losing part of this money can benefit to the criminal, since it strengthens the claim that they "lost money gambling", when in reality they still came out far ahead by converting money they could not openly use into seemingly legal funds.

And do you know what is more worse? This type of casino, with its more flexible rules, has hurt some excellent cryptocurrency projects such like Monero, whose main goal is privacy.... can any of you name a single casino operating under strict regulations that accepts XMR? I do not think one exists, unless it has very strict KYC requirements, but then the anonymity that XMR is designed to provide no longer makes much sense.

Anyway, its a constant "cat and mouse game" between regulators/casinos/criminals... and in the end, the only people who really lose are those of us who gamble purely for entertainment.

[Agbamoni]

What amaze me is how the heck this illegal exchange and betting platform get a huge fund like that to wash those dirty money? Afaik, this scheme requires a good fund stream from legit user in able to do that and I don’t know where the heck they can get a huge volume for unlicensed casino and exchange.

Or am I missing something here with how they operate to wash their money. Many casino struggles a lot to get customers especially unlicensed casino.

Shelbit isn't an illegal exchange but is under investigation for allegedly being involved in money laundering with illegal gambling and connections to the CBI. There is no concrete evidence that proves Shelbit is an illegal exchange involved in several instances of money abuse and illegal washing of money. However, until investigation is done and completed, the authorities have authorized a halt in operations.

What you are missing is that Shelbit operates in Dubai, so it is clear how the exchange can have up to $4 billion in operations.

[Questat]

Of course, with all the sanctions against Iran, they will keep finding ways to make transactions. Whatever their purpose is, that’s already up to them.

This also shows how hard Bitcoin and crypto are to stop. Even if the US sees these transactions in reports, what can they really do aside from pressuring other countries and companies not to cooperate with Iran?

Iran will just keep looking for another way to move money. So in that sense, the US has not fully defeated them.

Crypto gave them another option. Without it, maybe Iran would have been forced to give in much earlier because the US has a lot of influence over the global financial system.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Perhaps this could be the biggest news on how Iran was able to stay afloat and even if they are being sanctions by the West, they continue to have funds along the way with billions into this unlicensed crypto exchange until  Dubai Financial Services Authority ordered Shelbit to immediately cease all operations.

Because of Blockchain, investigator were able to map such large part of this network by analyzing wallet flow. If the same work had been done on completely cash or hawala network then such  investigation would have been more difficult.

Another point is, will all the problems be solved if Shelbit is shut down? As you said, other unlicensed exchange may come. As long as there is an opportunity to profit from sanction new intermediaries will be created. These are the problem of regulatory arbitrage and enforcement.

So it's very hard to disrupt them and going to be cat-and-mouse game of US and the West and Iran.

Well said, it is really a kind of cat-and-mouse game. But that fight is against the exchange, shell company and money laundering network, certainly not against Bitcoin

[Pandu Geddon]

I don’t know how they make it. But they should also be growing a market that's also huge for their customers. The volume for casinos and unlicensed exchanges is huge. This means there are a lot of users on their platform that use it and trust it. How do they cope? They are limited, but they have not lost their path.

[Oshosondy]

Politics aside, I think we can talk here about how money laundering can be carried out through gambling. Suppose you have a billion dollars of dirty money. You bet with big stakes on a gambling site, wagering tens of millions per day and eventually, even though your wins are much less than what you have won, you can withdraw those money and then it comes "washed", clean money, the source of which you can explain - you won it in casino.

Yes, no matter what happened, when they gamble with the money on online gambling sites, they can not lose all, but they may only have less amount of money left.

Do you know there are even gambling sites that allow you to withdraw all your money without gambling? But such gambling site are not common and I have not seen such on crypto gambling sites before.

The money launderers may also still prefer to gamble with the money. But this is just one of it, there are many ways that are not gambling that money are routed unknowingly to the government which are not related to gambling sites.

[Iranus]

This is perhaps called the economics of sanction, lol
As long as there is demand for capital movement between two country, some kind of financial channel will be created.
If you close one exchange then another will open. You can compare it to hydra effect. That is, if you cut off one head of this monster, two new heads will grow in its place. So enforcement alone will never be a permanent solution to problem.

You know that we can use the same network for legitimate remittance, and we can also use it for censorship resistant payment. And criminals will always try to use most efficient payment rail, be it crypto or fiat, they don't care.