i-Gaming Lobby Holds Talks On Money Laundering With EU Commission

The Interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association (iGGBA) which lobbies the interests of the European gambling industry has met this week with the EU Commission to discuss practical aspects of the new Money Laundering Regulation.

The EU Commission said it wants to expand the Know Your Customer requirement (KYC) to include identification and verification of players, and added it ready to discuss technical aspects.

iGGBA Chairman Andrew Tottenham was satisfied by the talks, saying their outcome is favourable results for the online gambling industry.

"We were pleased to see that the Commission did not intend the Directive to affect remote gambling. They were very receptive to the fact that a remote casino is one of the last gambling places a money launderer would pursue given that it requires them getting into the banking system through the use of a credit card", he said.

The Directive which will be making its way through the European Parliament in the autumn, will, however directly affect land-based casinos, by imposing a requirement to authenticate and verify the identity of those who purchase or exchange chips above €1,000 euros.

This may disrupt plans to bring US style casino gambling into the UK, where anyone can purchase limited amounts of chips without identity verification.