(Reuters) U.S. casinos may soon have to vet where their high rollers’ funds come from under a requirement being developed by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The move is part of a push to address longstanding regulatory and law enforcement concerns that criminals can use casinos, which have not historically been as closely monitored as banks for compliance with anti-money laundering laws, to convert proceeds of crime into money that appears clean.
Under current law, casinos are required to report suspicious activity. A customer who used a large sum of cash to buy chips, gambled briefly, and then asked to cash out with a casino check, for example, would likely get reported to authorities.
But existing rules do not explicitly require casinos to vet the source of gamblers’ funds.
