São Paulo Prosecutor: Betting houses used for money laundering
The Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo has once again raised alarms about the link between organized crime and betting houses. During a hearing of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on Organized Crime, prosecutor Paulo Lincoln Gakiya stated that criminal groups are using betting platforms and contracts with influencers as a mechanism to launder money, according to BNLData.
The prosecutor assured the senators that the sophistication of money laundering no longer involves cash, but rather digital structures that include advertising agreements. “Many of these companies are being used by organized crime to launder money. They use certain influencers who, in a few years, accumulate fortunes thanks to contracts with betting houses, but who are directly linked to laundering schemes. This will come to light soon,” he warned.
Organized crime takes advantage of system flaws
The Senate session reinforced the idea that the advance of organized crime relies on state weaknesses. Senators pointed out failures in financial oversight, institutional disputes, and lack of control in the penitentiary system as factors that facilitate its expansion.
The CPI president, Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES), described the phenomenon as a “state problem,” with the capacity to influence and corrupt public policies.
Meanwhile, in the Economic Affairs Commission (CAE), the president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, was questioned about control mechanisms to detect irregular transactions linked to betting and fintechs.
Repeated warning
This is not the first time Gakiya has pointed out risks related to the betting industry. In September, on the program Roda Viva, he had already mentioned signs of money laundering through betting platforms and public figures who promote them.
The prosecutor, however, did not specify whether the cases under investigation involve legal operators or illegal sites, although he insisted that the combination of lack of regulation, scarce supervision, and high profitability is a magnet for organized crime.
Institutional concern
The CPI rapporteur, Senator Alessandro Vieira (MDB-SE), recalled that several agencies, the Federal Police, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, had previously warned that the expansion of the betting market could become a channel for money laundering if control mechanisms were not strengthened.
Vieira emphasized that the disorderly growth of the market occurs where the state does not act firmly: “Organized crime seeks spaces of opacity; if there is no regulation or effective supervision, those gaps will be filled.”
Tags: Brasil, Online Casinos, Money Laundering in Betting