{"id":22422,"date":"2014-06-18T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T05:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=22422"},"modified":"2022-06-13T10:21:22","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T17:21:22","slug":"us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/","title":{"rendered":"US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Proceeds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"medical
All bets are off: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at casinos across the US, on pain of prosecution, say federal regulators. (Image: ukcsc.co.uk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

America’s casinos must refrain from accepting bets from workers in the medical marijuana industry, a group of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference<\/a>\u00a0in Las Vegas recently. Just as the clash between federal and individual state law has hindered the processing of online gaming transactions in the newly regulated states, the federal stance on marijuana means that the US government will not allow the casino industry to handle the proceeds of marijuana sales. How casinos are to determine that exactly, is clearly going to be problematic all around.<\/p>\n

Former White House advisor on money laundering issues Jim Dowling, who is now a consultant to casinos, told executives: \u201cCasinos can\u2019t accept any money from them, or they have to comply with the new government guidance. This is a federal problem that has been brewing for a while, and now it\u2019s coming to a head. State laws and federal laws don\u2019t match up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should a casino knowingly accept a bet from a person working in the medical marijuana industry, they could face prosecution, unless they perform a series of time-consuming, expensive, and frankly unrealistic background checks, Dowling explained. In this regard, casinos are being told to adopt a similar relationship attitude towards the medical marijuana industry as the banks, which have essentially blacklisted anyone in that business from opening a checking or savings account.<\/p>\n

No Pot Luck Allowed<\/h2>\n

Dowling said he wanted to raise the issue at the conference in Sin City to ensure that casinos were aware of the new guidelines so that they could avoid any risk of prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very controversial. I\u2019ll probably get a lot of hate mail for bringing it up,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you put yourself in a banker\u2019s situation, would you want to have to do all that and put yourself at criminal risk?<\/p>\n

“Bankers are all just saying, \u2018We don\u2019t want those problems,’ ” said Dowling, who is also a banking consultant. \u201cOne banker called them toxic.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been protests from civil liberty groups over the federal government’s stance – they claim that workers are being treated like pariahs and denied basic rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe federal government is again saying people involved in the marijuana business don\u2019t have rights,\u201d complained Dale Gieringer, director of California marijuana advocacy group NORML.<\/p>\n

Pot Control<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director of FinCEN, the branch of the Treasury which regulates casinos and banks, was also present at the conference. She referred questions to her media spokesman, Stephen Hudak, who appeared to confirm Dowling’s assertion.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinCEN\u2019s guidance applies to all financial institutions covered under FinCEN regulations, including casinos,\u201d said Hudak.<\/p>\n

Calvery also wants to enforce laws more rigorously that would require casinos to get their high-rollers to divulge the source of their bankrolls, an unpopular move with the casinos. She called casinos \u201ccomplex financial institutions\u201d that must get used to \u201cthinking more like other financial institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently ruled that none of its license holders should have anything to do with the state’s legalization of the medical marijuana trade. Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in Nevada since 2000, but in 2013 the law changed to allow businesses to dispense the drug, giving the go-ahead for 66 outlets throughout the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America’s casinos must refrain from accepting bets from workers in the medical marijuana industry, a group of federal regulators told gaming executives at the 2014 Bank Secrecy Act Conference\u00a0in Las Vegas recently. Just as the clash between federal and individual state law has hindered the processing of online gaming transactions in the newly regulated states, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":22426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[23,24],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUS Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Proceeds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American casinos should not be accepting bets from those who work in the medical marijuana industry, say US regulators.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Proceeds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American casinos should not be accepting bets from those who work in the medical marijuana industry, say US regulators.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-18T05:30:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-13T17:21:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/growing-cannabis.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/\",\"name\":\"US Casinos Must Refuse Bets from Medical Marijuana Proceeds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/growing-cannabis.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-18T05:30:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-13T17:21:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"American casinos should not be accepting bets from those who work in the medical marijuana industry, say US regulators.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/us-casinos-must-refuse-bets-from-medical-marijuana-proceeds\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/growing-cannabis.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/growing-cannabis.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1334,\"caption\":\"All bet are off: Medical marijuana workers are to be refused bets at casinos across the US, on pain of prosecution, say federal regulators. 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