The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has warned that the continued expansion of online gambling, cross-border payments and illegal operators is creating new opportunities for money laundering and other forms of financial crime.
In a report published on 9 September, the global anti-money laundering standard-setter said both land-based and online casinos, as well as sports betting businesses, face significant exposure to illicit financial activity. FATF said the sector has become more difficult to police as gambling increasingly operates across digital platforms and multiple payment channels.
The organisation highlighted money laundering, terrorist financing and, to a lesser extent, proliferation financing as areas requiring stronger attention from governments, regulators and operators.
FATF’s findings are based on a year-long project involving contributions from more than 80 jurisdictions alongside information from industry organisations and researchers. It is also the organisation’s first detailed global examination specifically focused on risks linked to online and illegal gambling.
Illegal gambling emerges as major financial-crime threat
One of the report’s main concerns is the scale of unlicensed gambling. FATF found that illegal gambling markets rival or exceed regulated markets in a number of jurisdictions, while offshore operators can appear to consumers as legitimate gambling businesses despite operating without appropriate licences or oversight.
According to FATF, these platforms can attract both ordinary customers and criminal groups by offering greater anonymity, flexible payment options and incentives that regulated operators may be unable to provide. Differences between national regulatory frameworks can also be exploited by illegal businesses operating across borders.
Technology has added another layer of risk. Gambling businesses increasingly accept payments through cash, electronic wallets, mobile money and virtual assets, creating multiple routes through which funds can enter or leave the regulated financial system. FATF also noted that gambling platforms rely on services including social media companies, software developers and digital marketplaces, some of which may sit outside conventional gambling regulation.
The warning follows increased attention to illegal gambling in several regulated markets. In Great Britain, the Gambling Commission said in its July 2026 financial-crime assessment that the growth of illegal gambling websites was exposing licensed businesses to illicit financial flows through their business-to-business relationships.
The Commission continues to classify remote casino, betting and bingo operations as high risk for money laundering, while gambling software was upgraded from low to medium risk in its latest assessment. The regulator cited technological developments, AI-generated identities, altered identification documents and high-speed digital payments among the evolving challenges facing operators.
FATF identifies new warning signs
FATF’s report outlines a range of behaviours that regulators and gambling companies should treat as potential indicators of suspicious financial activity.
Examples include criminals depositing and withdrawing funds without meaningful gambling activity, breaking transactions into numerous smaller payments to avoid detection thresholds, and placing unusually large or coordinated bets on events already associated with suspected competition manipulation.
Other warning signs include gambling accounts receiving deposits from several third parties, customers relying heavily on cash or virtual assets, inconsistencies between account holders and payment information, suspicious identification documents and the use of multiple accounts or payment methods under different identities.
FATF also highlighted suspicious betting structures and complex corporate ownership arrangements that can make it harder to identify the true beneficial owners behind gambling businesses.
The organisation said these patterns should not automatically be treated as proof of criminal activity. Instead, regulators and operators should use them as part of broader risk-based monitoring and customer due diligence systems.
FATF President Giles Thomson said gambling and gaming platforms can become attractive entry points for fraudsters, professional money laundering networks and organised crime when effective safeguards are missing.
The organisation is urging governments to strengthen supervision, intensify action against illegal and offshore operators and improve cooperation between regulators, law enforcement agencies and the private sector.
With gambling increasingly operating across borders and through faster digital payment systems, FATF said coordinated oversight will become increasingly important if regulators are to prevent criminals from exploiting gaps between individual national frameworks.