MeisterEckhart wrote on Feb 12
th, 2023 at 12:10pm:
Drop $100 into the machine.
Gamble $10 of it for a while.
Request a payout for the difference.
Receive a receipt from the establishment that the $90 came from the machine - no differentiation between winnings and return of funds.
Exactly. I read last week that pokies are one of the major ways
of laundering money through the pokies.
Except... instead of feeding $100 into its maws, the druggies are feeding
thousands into them. The example they gave was $5,000 for a $5 play!
The obvious question is why will the governments, of all colours, not legislate
to ban this? Why are the casinos effectively and knowingly condoning money
laundering? Well, I'd guess it's because of the massive gambling tax windfall
that finds its way into government coffers, and in return the lax oversight of
the government gambling authorities. A nice sweetheart deal?
• Government revenue from gambling in Australia for financial year 2019/2020
was
$6.6 billion. What Federal treasurer wouldn't welcome that money jam?
• In 2017, Australia ranked first in a list of countries with the highest gambling
losses worldwide with losses of
$1,386 per adult.