iGGBA meets EU Commission to discuss new money laundering regulation
Tuesday 17th August 2004
iGGBA (interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association), the main industry body in the EU, representing companies involved in the operation or provision of interactive betting platforms, has met with the EU Commission this week to discuss the practical implications of the new Money Laundering Regulation for the industry.
The EU has said it is giving priority to the proposal, which aims to extend the requirement on Know Your Customer (KYC) to identification and verification of such identification, wants to start discussing technical aspects immediately.
Andrew Tottenham, Chairman of iGGBA, was pleased by the discussions, which had favorable results for the online gambling industry: “We were pleased to see that the Commission did not intend the Directive to affect remote gambling. They were very receptive to the fact that a remote casino is one of the last gambling places a money launderer would pursue given that it requires them getting into the banking system through the use of a credit card”, he said.
The Directive which will be making its way through the European Parliament in the autumn, will, however have a direct affect on land-based casinos, obliging them to identify and verify the identification for persons purchasing or exchanging chips with a value of more than 1,000 euros. This will have a drastic affect on plans to bring US style casino gambling in the UK, where one can purchase limited amounts of chips without any previous identity verification.
