Casinos and Cryptocurrency Driving Illicit Finance in East and Southeast Asia - Institute for Financial Integrity

Expert Insight

Casinos and Cryptocurrency Driving Illicit Finance in East and Southeast Asia

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A recent UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report has found that casinos, junkets, and cryptocurrencies are exacerbating transnational organized criminal activity in East and Southeast Asia as part of the region’s underground banking and money laundering infrastructure. Although the use of casinos to launder money is not new, the proliferation of online gambling since the COVID 19 pandemic has aggravated the existing problem and has given rise to underregulated online gambling venues as more gamblers began playing from home.

In this Expert Insight Report, we explore the following topics:

Casinos
Special Economic Zones
Underground Banking
Money Laundering through Junkets
Online Casino Vulnerabilities and Challenges
Key Takeaways

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