Money laundering and poker

[DespotInExile]

It occurred to me that one reason the feds may be interested in poker is because the player-to-player transfer function can be used as a money laundering mechanism by ordinary criminals, organized crime, terrorists, etc. I doubt federal investigation is being driven by concerns about tax cheats--let's face it, there isn't a lot of revenue possibility there.

Before you laugh off the suggestion that Al Qaeda has been using Party Poker or Pokerstars to launder funds, consider that they have proven to be very adaptable in using technology to their advantage (e.g., distribution of propoganda via webclips, steganography, cryptography, etc.)

Also consider that banking institutions are subject to Patriot Act, whereas the player-to-player money transfers on poker sites have not been (thus far) subject to regulatory scrutiny (to my knowledge). This is another reason poker should be legal but regulated, FWIW.

[SplawnDarts]

Online poker is a potentially excellent money laundry on a small scale, and at the same time generates lots of money that needs to be laundered on a big scale.

Kind of ironic...

[Skallagrim]

Money laundering is an issue for the folks who made big money running obviously illegal (if they took US bets) internet sportsbetting sights.

AS to poker sites, just how would Osama go about using one to launder his cash? Sure getting it in would be easy, but how does he get it out - simply back to him? Then he's accomplished nothing. Chip dump to someone else? Sites check for that, and it would be pretty hard to disguise a big chip dump. There are far easier, less traceable ways for those folks to launder money.