Guatemala: Casinos and lotteries are already regulated by the law of money laundering

Both the Department of the Interior and the Public Ministery (MP) detected that the betting houses and lotteries are hired by mafias in order to launder money from illegal activities from drug dealing and smuggling, among others.

That's why last Monday it was decided that this type of companies are included under the regulation of the Law of Money Laundering, but, as well as banks, they are torced to report winnings and comment on any suspicious movement.

These companies will send their data to IVE, to be analized. In case any laundering had occured, the IVE will bring that information to MP, to iniciate the investigation. According to the norm, the companies have a three-month deadline to put up to date and begin to comply with the requirements demanded by the law.

Leopoldo Liu, prosecutor against Money Laundering, expressed that it is easy to launder money through gambling activities such as lotteries, raffles, etc. “Often several winners accept to sell their ticket, just not to pay taxes, ignoring they become an accomplice of money laundering”, expressed Liu.

Last year, the Department of the Interior has chosen not to authorize any more casinos. Altough, the largest sums of money are laundered via banking transfers, despite controls have increased.

Banks are obliged to report as suspicious any movement superior to us$ 10 thousand, but sometimos they don't do it. Besides, they must know deeply their customers, in order to know who might be entering illegal money in their accounts, but they do not always comply with it.

There are other cases in which criminals open the account with fake or stolen documents, so it is almost impossible for authorities to get to the real owner of the money.