Australia’s slot machines are being increasingly used by money launderers to wash millions of dollars a week from the proceeds of crime according to this report in The Sydney Morning Herald. Crime gangs routinely visit Sydney casino hotels several times a night, inserting thousands of dollars in slot machines at a time. $10,000 can be washed in a few minutes.
Once a few bets are made, criminals cash out and collect a casino cheque for the portion of funds fed into the machine and not gambled. They often make several trips to their car to collect more cash, then return to the same machine.
As much as $2 million passes through the slot machines in a week at each of Australia’s top gambling spots, according to an analysis of figures from the Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing. Some hoteliers say some of the spots in Sydney are so well known to criminal gangs that they refer to them as LLs, slang for ”local laundries”.