Gambling sector warned over AI-driven financial crime
Financial criminals are already outmanoeuvring biometric security systems used across the gambling and financial sectors, according to Tom Townson, Partner at Grant Thornton UK Advisory & Tax LLP, who warned operators that anti-money laundering controls must evolve alongside rapid technological change.
Speaking during the “Financial Crime Prevention and Compliance: Innovations and Best Practices” session at G2E Asia at The Venetian Macao, Townson said technologies once viewed as key safeguards are now being defeated by criminals using widely available AI tools.
“One of the things that we’ve been relying on in combating financial crime is the use of biometric data, like voice, fingerprint, and facial recognition,” he said. “Five years ago, that was regarded as the panacea of some of our anti-financial crime controls.”
However, he warned that criminals can now bypass those systems with ease. “That technology now can beat some of the controls that some of the firms in this room use for facial recognition,” he said. “The technology for producing that is ubiquitous and freely available on the internet.”
Townson said operators constantly need to restart and improve controls because criminals continue adapting. “The mission to fight financial crime, whether that’s money laundering, bribery and corruption, fraud, sanctions breaches, you never get over,” he said.
Townson said gambling operators should also expect greater regulatory scrutiny as authorities across sectors work more closely together.
“Regulators are collaborating and cooperating much more now than they ever have done,” he said. “The regulators who regulate the crypto sector, the payment sector, the gambling sector, you should expect those regulators to be collaborating and cooperating.”
He added that firms should not treat compliance teams as barriers to innovation.
Casino scam compounds draw scrutiny
In September 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against casino-linked scam compounds in Cambodia and Myanmar. The Treasury described the casinos as part of a large network of scam centres across Southeast Asia that steal billions of dollars from Americans using forced labour and violence.
The Treasury said many compounds were originally built as casinos before being converted into hubs for virtual currency investment scams.
According to the statement, “many of these centres were built as casinos by Chinese criminal actors but became hubs for virtual currency investment scams when that activity proved to be more profitable”.
The Treasury also sanctioned casino-linked entities in Cambodia, including the Golden Sun Sky Casino and Hotel in Sihanoukville and compounds allegedly linked to forced labour and online scam operations.
U.S. officials said criminal groups were using violence, debt bondage and human trafficking to force workers into conducting online investment scams.
Townson said that criminals are increasingly using whichever sector has the weakest controls. “They don’t really care mostly about which vehicle they’ve used to launder criminal proceeds,” he said. “What they do care about is doing it in the fastest, easiest, and most frictionless way that they can.”
“Don’t be the weakest link in the chain,” he added.
Operators urged to strengthen AML controls to retain access
Townson also warned gambling firms that access to banking services increasingly depends on how effectively they manage financial crime risks. “Access to banking isn’t guaranteed,” he said. “Banks continually assess risk, reputation and defensibility.”
According to Townson, banks examine the jurisdictions in which operators operate, customer behaviour patterns, and how well firms understand the flow of money through their businesses.
“They’re interested in how good you are at managing financial crime and your understanding of the payments that are washing through your business,” he said.
The rise in the use of digital assets
He also highlighted the growing overlap between gambling, payments, and crypto regulation, noting that the UK crypto sector is moving towards full financial services regulation.
“If in your firms you are accepting crypto assets for purposes of gambling or remote gaming,” he said, “some of the entities involved in the crypto sector will be subject to similar types of regulation that you are subject to.”
Townson argued that many enforcement failures still stem from weak customer due diligence, inadequate source-of-wealth checks, poor escalation procedures, and commercial pressure to cut compliance costs.
He also warned that cost-cutting linked to AI adoption could weaken compliance functions before new systems are fully operational.
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