Moroccan financial authorities have opened an investigation into suspected money-laundering networks linked to casinos in southern Spain after Spanish watchdogs flagged suspicious cash flows. The probe is focused on undeclared funds, informal exchange networks and cross-border transfers.
According to Hespress, Morocco’s Customs and Indirect Tax Administration and the Foreign Exchange Office opened extensive inquiries with other agencies after Spanish counterparts flagged transactions involving Moroccan tourists, residents and intermediaries based in several European countries. The authorities also had access to data on undeclared financial operations carried out abroad by Moroccan citizens and residents, including casino-linked transactions.
Investigators suspect that undeclared money was moved through informal networks that exchanged currencies and then reinvested the funds in gambling venues to give them an appearance of legitimacy before the money was deposited into bank accounts abroad. They are also examining allegations that intermediaries broke large sums into smaller transactions to avoid mandatory reporting thresholds.
Some of the money is alleged to have been cycled through casinos using fictitious gambling wins and losses before being transferred out of Spain’s banking system. The probe has also expanded to exchange operations involving Moroccan tourists and European residents of Moroccan origin, after suspicions that intermediaries near airports and currency exchange offices were used to convert large amounts of foreign currency while obscuring the source of the funds.
Moroccan authorities have tightened scrutiny of currency declarations at border crossings and are reviewing cross-border bank transfers and transactions processed through international money transfer services. Customs officials at airports and ports have been told to strengthen monitoring of incoming and outgoing declarations as investigators trace funds directed toward gambling establishments in southern Spain.
Some suspects reportedly appear in multiple international databases used to combat money laundering and financial crime, prompting parallel inquiries into their financial ties and movements between Morocco, Spain and other European countries. The effort sits within ongoing cooperation between Moroccan financial institutions and foreign counterparts, which exchange information on cross-border financial activity.
A Basel Institute on Governance report says gambling is attractive to launderers because it is cash-heavy and spans physical casinos, online casinos, bars and clubs with poker machines, plus sports betting. It describes the standard “cash-in, cash-out” method and variants that split money into smaller betting accounts, engineer losses or move withdrawn credit to another jurisdiction. The same report says gambling revenues reached USD 261 billion in the US and EUR 87.2 billion in Europe in 2021.
US FinCEN guidance likewise treats efforts to keep transactions below reporting thresholds as suspicious and says casinos subject to the Bank Secrecy Act must have risk-based anti-money-laundering programmes, staff training and written procedures. The heightened controls in Morocco are expected to remain in place over the coming weeks as tourist traffic between Morocco and nearby Spanish destinations increases, and as periods of heavy tourism in southern Spain make the activity harder to monitor.
