The Treasury, following a request by the Sports Minister, has ordered to the National Criminal Intelligence Service to investigate the results of an independent report which indicated that UK bookmakers “may be unwittingly facilitating the laundering of ill-gotten gains.”
The NCIS is specialized in providing intelligence to combat organized crime. The investigation is expected to cover betting shops, on-course betting rings and telephone accounts.
Bookmakers are excluded from existing money-laundering regulations which apply to banks, financial institutions and casinos. “As the independent report shows, this could well be a potential avenue for money-laundering,” the Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, said.
“The Government has asked NCIS to undertake a risk assessment into bookmaking. This is part of the overall strategy which continually assesses money-laundering risk across a range of sectors,” a Treasury spokesman said.
Calculators
