As online games replaced the gambling industry and the rise of these online games, brought rich opportunities for players and operators and crime. With the evolution of this industry and the enrichment of crimes, international AML laws and local gambling regulations are becoming stiff.
Gambling sectors, which are adversely affected by the closure of buildings and job losses due to the corona process, continue mostly online. This brought new risks with it. Gambling Enterprises discusses whether this requires updating the money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment.
Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Gaming and Gambling
Financial criminals target gaming and gambling businesses for money laundering . Gaming and Gambling can also be used to launder funds obtained from criminal activities in general. Criminals can abuse the system by hiding the link between the funds created. Gaming and gambling businesses are responsible for keeping money laundering and terrorist financing off their businesses. All gambling companies are subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), which also has anti-money laundering rules. In addition, the gaming and gambling industry has to comply with the directives and regulations of Moneyval, FATF, and the European Union. Also, this g aming and Gambling have to have a comprehensive compliance program to prevent money laundering; thanks to this compatibility program, they can be protected from potential criminal activities in businesses.
The Rising Risk of Money Laundering for Money Mules
Mule Accounts are an increased risk of financial crime, especially for the retail banking sector, to facilitate crime revenues. However, this risk may be a risk in the retail banking sector and the gambling industry. Financial criminals target online scams and fraud with Mule accounts. It achieves these goals by breaking the audit of transactions and complicating any investigation by transferring illegal funds from a third party's bank mule account.
With the increase of their online games, this risk increases, and according to research, most of the money mules consist of young men. Therefore, the gaming and gambling industry should also increase money mules. Opening a gambling account with a minimum deposit, initially for this activity, is a red flag indicator. Moreover, these risks became even more important for the gaming and gambling industries to perform customer identity and comprehensive funding controls during customer registration.
Risk Assessment and Risk Management
The primary purpose of the risk assessment is to identify or reduce the risk sources after assessing these risks. As a result, the gaming and gambling industry can adapt to AML / OFAC compatibility programs. Many indicators are used, such as customer types used during the risk assessment and geography risks. These indicators can reduce money laundering and terrorist financing in gaming and gambling businesses. Therefore, it is essential to have a risk-based approach when conducting a risk assessment. As a result of the risk assessment, internal policy and procedures should be implemented in the gaming and gambling industry.
When dealing with customers, the purposes of money laundering and social responsibility should also be taken into account. Regulations should be reviewed, and legal obligations should not be risked when managing risks. In the gaming and gambling industries, they should not be exposed to unnecessary and unacceptable risks for the ability to manage and comply with regulations effectively.
Get to know the Risk Assessment more closely
The Requirement of Risk-Based Approach for Gaming and Gambling Industries
An assessment of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks faced in the gaming and gambling industry should also be made, and in the light of these assessments, internal policies and procedures should be managed. A risk-based approach is required when making this assessment and management. So what is meant by a risk-based approach?
Any customer coming into the gaming and gambling industry should be screened to measure the risk level then these scans should be performed for the same customer in regular periods. Sanctions lists, PEP lists, and adverse media data are very important for organizations because these lists pose a great risk. When applying a risk-based approach, customers are individually categorized according to their risk levels, and if the customer carries a higher risk, this person will receive more AML reviews.
Get to know the Rısk-Based Approach in more detail.
Regulations in the Gaming and Gambling Sector in the World
The US
In states where gambling is legal, the United States also have their regulators. FinCen is the authority obliged to supervise the regulations here. There are two laws in the US Gambling regulations, the first is The Interstate Wire Act, and the other is The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
The European Union (EU)
The 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directives (AMLD) are a common regulation for all European countries, but each EU member country has its regulators. EU member states are required to comply with these AML regulations.
Australia
It has its own regulations in all states and regions of Australia. Although there is no single binding regulator, Australia is the gambling jurisdiction with one of the world's strictest compatibility requirements.
Cyprus
Gaming and Gambling are legal in Cyprus. The regulations of the gambling industry are different, and the rules here are regulated by The National Betting Authority (NBA).
4th and 5th EU AML Directive for Gaming and Gambling Industries
In 2015, the EU Commission comply with the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive to help combat money laundering and terrorist financing in the EU. This directive was not perfect for the gambling industry, so it decided to extend the 5AMLD EU directive to cover the gambling industry. In general, there are applications where the purpose of these directives suggests compliance with the AML program in the financial sectors, including the game and gambling industry, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) , Customer Due Diligence (CDD) .
With these practices, countries comply with the directives. In the rest of our article, you can find out what these applications mean in the gaming and gambling industry. Most gambling regulators are tasked with monitoring and auditing AML compliance.
Customer Due Diligence for Gaming and Gambling
In the gaming and gambling industry, the Customer Due Diligence application is used to collect information about customers and to scan and evaluate this information. After this evaluation, the customer's existing risks are determined, and an action step is taken accordingly. Customer risks can be reduced with CDD. When making a Customer Due Diligence (CDD), information such as the full name, nationality, marital status, age, and contact information of the customer is collected. Then ID is scanned so that the risks are scanned. CDD is a Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure.
Sanction Scanner Solutions For Gaming and Gambling
Industries In the online gaming and gambling industry, the customer can open an account on the gaming and gambling platforms in seconds. Organizations have to comply with AML requirements while performing a quick customer account opening process to ensure customer satisfaction. With its powerful API support, Sanction Scanner automatically performs all AML control processes of organizations from customer account opening to customer money transfer transactions within seconds. Sanctions Scanner has a global database of sanctions, PEP, blocked persons, and searched lists. The database of the Sanction Scanner is updated instantly. Organizations can check their customers 24/7 in this database.
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