Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
GANGLAND CRIMINALS ARE using online betting accounts to stash drug money, allowing users to pay for the illicit items without cash and withdrawing it online without coming to the attention of the authorities.
Gardaí believe a number of serious criminals are using these accounts to safely store cash before moving it to a safer location, where it can be withdrawn.
A number of bets are made on very short odds to keep the account looking legitimate. The money is only kept in an account for a very short amount of time before it is withdrawn. This is to stop many of the bookmakers’ built-in anti money laundering software from identifying the issue and moving on.
In many cases, well-placed security sources say drug money is brought into the betting shop and is then lodged into an account. The money is then gambled on a game or race which is heavily fancied to win. For example at odds of 1/50. This means for every €50 gambled on a bet – this means you would win just €1 along with your €50 stake.
Former staff member
The Criminal Assets Bureau is aware of the method of storing money. Debit card seizures as part of wider searches are now becoming more commonplace for these officers.
A previous worker in a Dublin betting shop told TheJournal.ie: “This would happen all the time. Lads would come in and put a few hundred quid into their accounts. Then they’d back a dead cert – something that’s maybe 1/50. Then they’d withdraw the money.
“Where I worked, you weren’t allowed withdraw the cash after depositing without betting. I would have seen first hand that guys would come in, especially during festivals like Cheltenham, and stick in a few grand. Because that would be nearly normal around that week. They’d just take the money out an hour later or whatever.”
This method of stashing money stops criminals being caught with large amounts of cash. It is also a very easy way to move relatively large amounts of cash without the worry that bales of money are going to be seized by gardaí.
And it’s not just an easy way for criminals to avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Prisons are also hotbeds for this method of transaction. This is because having large amounts of cash inside the prison is mostly pointless.
For example, if a user wants drugs when they are prison, they are given the product and told to have money lodged into a specific gaming account. The prisoner uses a phonecall and says to a friend or relative to transfer €100 into a certain account. The dealer rings a friend and asks to check the balance of the account.
Anti money laundering software
However, bookmakers have shut down a number of accounts they feel are being used to launder money. The vast majority of bookmakers operate sophisticated anti money laundering software which is used to scan millions of accounts to look out for suspicious behaviour.
In some circumstances, bookmakers will conduct what is known as a fund inquiry. This is where it asks the account holder for proof of income. If this can’t be provided, the account is usually shut down.
These checks occur when a bookmakers’ anti money laundering software flags irregular betting patterns.
Due to this software, the lifespan of the online accounts used by gangland figures is relatively short. They end up either being suspended or shut down.
Recreational drug problems
The online bookmakers is just one of a number of ways cash is being stored by drug dealers and this comes as no surprise to Phillip Jennings, the coordinator for Safer Blanchardstown, a group which is attempting to highlight the dangers of recreational drug use and its link to intimidation and violence across the country.
Jennings has been dealing with families who have been left devastated by drugs and has spoken directly with people who have had to deal with drug debts built up by other family members.
He told TheJournal.ie that dealers are becoming more savvy in the way they collect their money.
He said: “Any method possible is being used to intimidate families. This is no surprise. There’s all sorts of different ways people are paying for their drugs – it’s especially difficult when someone is in prison. If a family member is getting drugs in prison and then there’s suddenly a knock on the door for someone looking for money, then that can cause a lot of problems. A lot of families don’t have €200 or €300 in their back pockets to pay a drug dealer.
“That’s when the windows start being broken and shots start to be fired at people’s front doors.”
TheJournal.ie contacted a number of bookmakers to ask them about their anti money laundering protocols.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The health service in this country is in meltdown and the Minister for Health has time to concern himself with this trivial issue? His priorities would appear to be somewhat confused.
It’s related to some extent – passive smoking is just as bad (so the experts say) and clamping down on smoking in public means less passive smokers, which means less people in hospital due to the effects.
But I still think it’s a tactic employed by politicians in this country where they try and do something small to keep the people off their backs while they continue to do nothing about the bigger issues.
Minister for Health what a tool, I’d be more worried about the amount of carbon monoxide and other toxic chemicals released by motor vehicles than someone somking
@Damian, what experts say passive smoking is bad. I would be very interested as there have been no studies done on the effects of passive smoking.
@Doc – Google is handy, if you punch in a few words and hit enter, results will pop up, you should try it some time: http://www.tobacco.org/news/96539.html
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/smokingandtobacco/howdoweknow/tobacco-smoking-and-cancer-the-evidence
@ Damian. I have read these papers and none of them are studies taken specifically on the effects of passive smoke. They are however extrapolations taken from statistical data and from study reviews. Perhaps instead of just googling something you could read and research some facts before patronising someone with nothing more than your own glib opinion.
@Doc – My own glib opinion is that cancer kills, directly related to smoking in a lot of cases. My own glib opinion is that I don’t want to inhale the poison from other people’s cigarettes. My own glib opinion is that the Cancer Research UK might just know a little bit more about this stuff than you. My own glib opinion is that you should have more sense than to be trawling the Journal looking to impart your wonderful knowledge in the hopes of starting a keyboard fight. Wise up.
Yes Damian, they are all your glib opinions. Smoking can cause cancer, so don’t smoke it’s your choice. If you don’t want to breathe in a smokers exhalations, leave the room it’s your choice. As for the articles you quoted, they concluded in the article you quoted that there was NO statistical risk in childhood cancers due to exposure from second hand smoke. Apparently cancer research uk know more about it than you too. As for trying to start a keyboard row, I’ve only been asking questions regarding facts and not my own glib opinion. Why don’t you wise up and get your facts right instead of quoting reports that you haven’t read or understood.
Re: the smoking ban…
When they do the same with alcohol in this country I will see the sense of it!!
I am pretty sure you can’t drink in public parks, also you can’t drink while driving. So the laws are in place already. So you fully behind this now .
I think it is already illegal to drink in public places, I know people still do it but I think it is illegal. I have seen Gardai confiscate alcohol from a group of men in the Phoenix Park. But like everything else in this country, there won’t be the necessary resources to enforce it.
James Reilly,,, I think we have more important things to be getting on with !!!!!
Andrea, it is not illegal to drink in public places, a garda will remove your drink only if you are drunk and deemed to be a danger to yourself or others. It is up to each authority to pass their own by laws regarding drinking in public (ever see a sign in a park saying no drinking) but it is not illegal.
Someone needs to tell Shatter that the whole Island is an open prison.
What a ridiculous suggestion…banning smoking in public places won’t stop it. As a country we are in crisis and this is just smoke and mirrors bullshit! pardon the pun. concentrate on real problems like more ambulance stations, more facilities for sick children, better and cheaper healthcare for all instead of doubling OUR money up against a wall on petty distractive nonsense such as this!
I actually think it would be a good idea, I have brought my children to parks and parades and had people light up directly beside us. Or light up in a queue. It is very unpleasant. Most responsible adults don’t do it but there are those who just don’t care. It is a difficult one and I remember someone posting a comment on a similar story where he mentioned a country (I can’t remember where), where one side of a street was for smokers and one for non smokers. That sounded like a good compromise….
All indoors are no smoking if u don’t like it move yourself.I don’t smoke near kids or parks but I’m sick of people like you moneing all the time. The government have not banned smoking yet so give people who do the right thing a brake
If they’re outside I believe they can smoke where they please (with an obvious exception of queues and such when kids are around), if you don’t like it move on. And this is from an ex-smoker.
@Tommy. I wasn’t “moaning”, I was simply expressing an opinion. All I said was that it is unpleasant when irresponsible people light up in a confined space (like a queue or squashed in a parade) when you have your children with you. It is much easier for that person to move away from the children than to have to move 4 children. You yourself said you don’t light up around children and if you read my comment carefully, you will notice that was my very point…
Why should a person smoking in any outdoor environment move away from children?
Dr. James Reilly can’t even enforce a no smoking policy in our Hospitals.
And where does he propose to raise the lost revenue obtained from tobacco sales?
Waffle waffle waffle.
(Check out the photo of Dr. Reilly on here and tell me: Is this an accurate image of Dr. Reilly as we know him? http://www.dohc.ie/about_us/ministers/ )
It’s a long time since he looked like that.
the minister seems to have lost track of his priorities he would be better employed in making the HSE more
efficient he has more important issues to be concerned with or are these too much to handle
Let people smoke but charge €20 for a pack of 20 and cream in the taxes.
Everyone’s a winner.
is there a smoking area in the Dail James?…….lead by example!!
This has to be another of those things the politicians do so they can point at it and say ‘what a clever little minister I am, look at what I did’ (usually banging on about their ‘achievement’ when people are asking about the many many serious things they have botched or ignored)
Its just P.R. and nothing more
Gotta love the IMF, they take billions off emerging economies and give it to rich economies to squander, genius
The widening of the ban would be good if only to lessen the amounts of filthy disgusting cigarette butts being flicked all over the ground everywhere. When you go to stephens geeen its hard to find a place to sit on the grass in summer without being next to a fag end. Next chewing gum!
Did Dr Reilly get this latest bright idea from his 164 thousand (dollar) man?
Test message.
have your say