AGA releases updated guide of Anti-Money Laundering compliance for the gaming industry

The American Gaming Association (AGA) released the third edition of its Best Practices for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance resource on Thursday. The updated document has been reviewed and revised by the country’s top compliance professionals, reflecting new laws, technologies and indicators of criminal activity.

“As the methods and sophistication of financial crimes evolve, the gaming industry continues to spearhead efforts to combat money laundering,” said Alex Costello, AGA’s Vice President, Government Relations. “An invaluable resource for our industry, this guide demonstrates gaming’s commitment to protect the U.S. financial system from money laundering and other forms of illicit finance.”

AGA outlined the key milestones and changes in the area since the last update to Best Practices in 2019:

• Congress made significant changes to the Bank Secrecy Act through the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020.
• FinCEN granted the gaming industry federal exceptive relief for certain types of ID verification.
• Sixteen additional states legalized sports betting and iGaming.
• Nearly a dozen gaming jurisdictions approved the use of digital payments and forms of cryptocurrency.
• New types of cybercrimes and fraudulent activity have surfaced.

The new guide addressed these changes by providing updated guidance, expanded red flag indicators, current compliance obligations, revised definitions, and other essential information for gaming companies to maintain their strong AML regimes.

🚨 RELEASE: Today, the AGA published the 3rd edition of its Best Practices for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance resource to reflect new laws, technologies, and indicators of criminal activity.

Full details ➡️ https://t.co/0iQms591Cq pic.twitter.com/CUvYwEajDK

— American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) July 28, 2022

AGA notes that the casino gaming industry is recognized as a leader in AML compliance. In 2014, gaming became the first industry to collectively establish this comprehensive set of best practices for AML compliance. In 2021, the industry filed nearly 55,000 suspicious activity reports to aid law enforcement in fighting money laundering activity. In addition, the AGA represents gaming on the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG), a group organized by FinCEN to collaborate with stakeholders in the financial sector.

Last month, AGA released a new resource on another area, called Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking in the Gaming Industry, marking the first step from its newly founded Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force which aims to bolster the gaming industry efforts.