Money Laundering: Rapid Growth of Casinos Makes Them Vulnerable

FinCEN believes that it would be difficult or impossible, to set standards at the federal level that would determine which cash transactions to allow and what dollar thresholds should be established. Treasury believes that the most effective means of combating money laundering is determining which cash transactions should be recorded or reported and working with the industry to ensure that suspicious activity, regardless of the form of the funds involved, is effectively detected and reported. FinCEN believes that prohibiting certain transactions is not a solution to combating money laundering, but reporting suspicious activity may help to detect money laundering in casinos. FinCEN is writing a proposed amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act regulations requiring casinos to report suspicious transactions. Therefore, the action taken by Treasury is not fully responsive to the recommendation to consider the costs and benefits of an amendment to BSA.