Sands casino helping organized crime move funds to Macau?

The Philippine gambling and gaming operators may find a lesson or two from the ongoing crime investigation involving giant casino firm Sands. Controlled by billionaire and prominent Republican party donor Sheldon Adelson, Sands is under investigation by U.S. and Nevada regulators for supposedly allowing some US$100,000 funds of an individual linked to an Asian organized crime to be transferred from Sands’ Venetian Las Vegas to the Sands Macao on January 31, 2009. These money transfers were based on documents filed by a former Sands employee and had raised bribery concerns under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Sands told the court the transaction was a mere accommodation for junket or VIP customers who gamble in various branches of the casino firm. Sans said it merely advanced a credit to a customer in one location to reflect funds that the customer had deposited at another property. Money did not move overseas, but credit was made available overseas, it said. The Nevada regulators are concerned that these practices involving organized crimes bring the state into “disrepute.” The Las Vegas Strip market has been overshadowed by Macau, which is now the largest casino market in the world.

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