Especially in reference to casinos?
Edit: since I’ve gotten some answers, I want to add: is it possible to use sports betting to launder as well?
In: Economics
Unless the casino is keeping very careful records, the government will have trouble proving how much money you entered the casino with. So if you have $1,000 in illegal gains, you gamble, and you end up losing $200, it’s win-win, because the casino made 200 bucks, and now you have $800 that are clean in the eyes of the law.
Anti-laundering laws are one of the reasons why many modern casinos now require gamblers to convert their cash into electronic cards. All the money that comes into the casino is now on an electronic ledger, which they can very easily turn over to the police, and then the police can come through the data for the names they’re interested in. As a fun side benefit, the casinos have found that gamblers are also willing to spend more when their money is on a card, because they can’t literally see it going out of their hands.
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