A new study says Singapore’s land-based casinos pose a “moderately high” risk for money laundering, as criminals look elsewhere—including online gambling—to funnel dirty money.
According to the report from the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Law and Monetary Authority, “We have not encountered any instance where (brick-and-mortar) casinos were found to be directly complicit in money laundering activities in Singapore, and have only observed a low number of cases where criminal proceeds were converted to casino chips for self-laundering purposes.”
The very nature of gambling makes it less appealing for money laundering, the report continued, because “gaming outcomes are random and unpredictable,” and criminals are statistically more likely to lose than win.
“Internationally, there are also suggestions that casinos may be less attractive to criminals as compared to other sectors,” the report states, “and where proceeds of crime enter casinos, they largely involve criminals spending the proceeds of crime for leisure, rather than as a means of ‘washing’ criminal funds.” Online gaming, by contrast, has a “higher degree of lucrativeness and higher tendency to be transnational in nature.”
The report noted that criminal syndicates often avoid detection “due to the ease of setting up or shutting down of an illegal online gambling site. The ability to host these illicit websites outside of Singapore makes clamping down on illegal gambling a challenge for law enforcement agencies.
“Syndicates are also able to use alternative payment methods such as cryptocurrencies and illegal payment platforms which make the detection of suspicious transactions or money tracing difficult.”
The study pointed to a US$2.2 billion money laundering case related to illegal iGaming sites in the Philippines.
The suspects, nine men and one woman, all funneled illegal gains through Singapore’s legitimate financial system and, according to Channel News Asia, turned millions of dollars into “luxury cars, extravagant watches, properties in Singapore’s most lavish neighborhoods, jewelry, designer goods, cryptocurrency and cold, hard cash.” In April, all 10 pleaded guilty, forfeited millions in ill-gotten gains, and were sentenced to from 13 months to 17 months in prison.
At last month’s Financial Action Task Force Plenary, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, “Even the most stringent anti-money laundering regimes can be circumvented by determined criminals who will continuously search for gaps to exploit.”
Time magazine noted that banks in Singapore are also monitoring high-value clients and potential clients to sidestep illicit capital movement.
