IRS urges casinos to report suspicious, big-money players
By Liz Benston, Las Vegas Sun
Several months ago, the Internal Revenue Service agents who investigate financial crimes in Las Vegas began calling big casinos to set up meetings with their employees.
The calls were friendly.
Stateline casinos work with the feds when asked. Photo/Kathryn Reed
In fact, the IRS — battling a bumper crop of white-collar crime — needed the casinos’ help.
The feds were asking floor workers to drop a dime and report suspicious people gambling with lots of money.
Since the 1980s, Nevada casinos have filed thousands of reports containing the names, Social Security numbers and other identifying characteristics of customers suspected of laundering money or simply gambling with ill-gotten funds. Those figures are rising in the recession and appear to coincide with increased financial crimes across the country.