Some games of chance allow you to launder money with a return of 70%.
In recent hours, the site Follow The Money (FTM) and The evening revealed that searches had been carried out at the home of former Deputy Prime Minister and former European Commissioner Didier Reynders, for suspicion of money laundering. The investigation would highlight a mechanism which would involve the National Lottery. At least that is the hypothesis of the investigators, because at this stage, we are only suspicious and Didier Reynders is still presumed innocent.
E-tickets
But the former Liberal Commissioner would be, explain Le Soir and FTM, “suspected of having purchased e-tickets – vouchers of 1 to 100 euros which can be transferred to a National Lottery account, indicated a source familiar with of the file. It was from this account – and with cash – that Reynders allegedly participated in lottery games and transferred the winnings, now laundered, to his private account.” “If there is cash, the next question is where it comes from,” a judicial source told journalist Simon Van Dorpe of FTM.
But how can you launder black money while gambling?
“To lose as little money as possible, people who want to launder money through the lotto sector must choose the right game,” emphasizes Simon Van Dorpe. And the good games are not those where you can win big, but above all those where you have the least risk of losing, since, remember, the goal is to launder money, not to win .
7 out of 10 chances
Playing Euromillions, where the chance of winning the jackpot is 1 in 19 million, and where the chance of winning something more than your stake is, according to the National Lottery, 1 in 13, is not the right solution. We would in fact launder one euro for 13 euros of black money.
Last year, The Latest News asked Rudi Penne, a mathematics professor at the University of Antwerp, what the chances of winning the National Lottery games were. Certainly, Rudi Penne basically advised against all games, emphasizing that “in games of chance, a mathematician rarely participates”. However, some games allow you to lose less than others and therefore provide an acceptable return for those who want to launder dirty money.
Playing with a Loto grid is not very profitable. The return is 45 cents per stake of 1.25 euros, or 36%. But scratch cards are much more interesting. For example, you have an average 73% chance of recovering your stake when playing Subito. Win for Life seems just as lucrative, if not more. The average yield on 1, 3 and 10 euro notes is, respectively, 69%, 74% and 78%, estimates Rudi Penne.
Thus, using these games, laundering money would cost on average 30%, or ultimately the equivalent of withholding tax….
