Police suspect that criminals are using gambling machine to launder money. (photo of Sydney Morning Herald)
Last year, new state gamblers bet more than A $1.3 billion through gambling machine. The latest figures show that machines in some parts of western Sydney have even bet on huge loans. Police believe these machines are likely to have become illegal money laundering tools.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, A $80 billion was spent on gambling machine bets in the last fiscal year. As a result, bar and club business losses were A $ one hundred and nineteen million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine less than last year. (Fairfield) residents of Feifei spend A $8.4 billion on gambling, ranking first in the new state. In fiscal year 2013-14, the figure was A $6.99 billion, up about 20%.
Some researchers think this growth is inexplicable. A spokesman for the Federal Anti-money laundering Agency said the number of bars and clubs that filed suspicious activity reports nationwide last year increased 75 percent. Figures show that gamblers are increasing their bets much faster than they are losing money, and they suspect the machines are being used to clean up illegal funds.
(AUSTRAC), the Australian Trade report Analysis Center, has been keeping an eye on bar and club deals. In January 2018, new state government also set up a network to monitor tens of thousands of machines. Internal forecasts suggest that gambling could cause a loss of more than A $185 million in the new state`s government. Data obtained by the Greens show that the fiscal losses caused by the, gambling machine by 2020 are likely to increase by another A $500 million.
Gambling losses in the new state peaked in 2005, with an average of more than A $1250 per person, according to an analysis of gambling losses, which fell to more than A $950 in 2015.
According to police sources, money laundering by drug traffickers has a long history in the city of Feifei. These methods include recruiting problematic gambler, providing them with a certain amount of money, and laundering money through gambling machine.
A spokesman for the Independent Liquor and gambling game Administration said the company had begun to monitor possible money-laundering more closely and set up a new network to automatically detect suspicious transactions. "our new central monitoring system began operation last month, connecting 93000 machines at more than 2600 locations."
