【新唐人2012年9月24日讯】2012年的中国春节，位于美国拉斯维加斯的赌场公司“永利渡假(Wynn Resorts Ltd.)”，仅一个晚上就从赌桌上狂揽了1,600万美元收入，这是这家公司历史上赌桌盈利最多的一个晚上。随着美国赌场不断扩大“中国业务”，美国财政部下属执法部门目前关注的是，是否有部分“博彩中介”正通过遮掩资金来源，从而让拉斯维加斯成为一个新的“洗钱中转站”。
据美国《华尔街日报》报导，美国财政部金融犯罪执行网路(Financial Crimes Enforcement Network)，上个月对赌场发出警告，建议它们监督“博彩中介”的运营和客户，如发现可疑行为，应汇报一切可用信息。美国执法部门说，他们对于那些“将中介存款跨境转移给客户的赌场”表示关注。他们说，由于缺少像银行那样的仔细审核，这些资金流动有很高的“洗钱”风险。
根据规定，中国公民每年可自由携带出境的资金最多为5万美元，一些超级赌客便依赖外国旅行机构，为他们提供可获得巨额资金的机会，这些旅行机构被称为“博彩中介”。美国驻中国赌城——澳门的执法人员和外交人员长期以来一直认为，这里的博彩业存在洗钱和组织犯罪的嫌疑。
北京自由作家殷德义表示，“赌场洗钱”是中共地下钱庄经常使用的一种手段。
北京自由作家殷德义：“我觉得是，作为一种常识，如果资金来历不明的话，我想最好的办法就是用赌场，特别是地下赌场这种方式去洗钱。国内有很多专门搞洗钱的中介。你像薄熙来这次和谷开来这60亿，他愁的不就是这个吗？就是把这个钱怎么转移出去？”
上世纪80年代以来，一直扎根澳门赌场的“博彩中介”，对很多中国有钱人来说是不可或缺的，因为中国对居民每年可携带出境的现钞有严格的限制。
殷德义：“你看看中国官员，澳门赌场这种地方基本上就成为他们的桥头堡，转移资金的。很多人说那些官员一夜之间挥霍几百万，几千万，其实他们除了本人，他还有其他人帮他往外输血，通过这种方式。”
为帮助富人，“博彩中介”向玩家提供高信用额度，然后在赌博损失越来越大的时候收债。一些“博彩中介”让多金赌客在出国前打个欠条就可以。监管机构说，究竟有多少“博彩中介”绕开了中国的监管，却是一笔糊涂账。内华达州博彩业管理委员会(Nevada Gaming Control Board)即将卸任的主席利帕雷利(Mark Lipparelli)说，至今还没有谁能告诉我，钱是怎么从中国内地进入澳门的，还没有谁给我一个清楚的解释。
“澳门理工学院(Macau Polytechnic Institute) ”在2010年的一项研究发现，在澳门的贵宾赌客中，中国政府官员、国企管理者、私企老板等为澳门博彩业贡献了超过三分之二的收入。
山东独立作家巩磊：“一般的民营企业家，或者靠拚搏，自己挣的合法收入，他是不会去赌博的。真正赌博实际上是这些大量的转移国有资产，搜刮老百姓钱财，贪污腐败的钱，他需要洗白它，转入到他的海外账户。他才有可能，都是些非法收入占绝大多数。”
近年来，几家位于拉斯维加斯经营赌场的公司—-“美高梅”、“永利”和“金沙”，相继在澳门开设赌场。澳门已经一跃进入全球最大博彩业中心的行列，去年的博彩业收入达到可观的340亿美元，是拉斯维加斯地区博彩业收入的五倍多。不过，过去五年，到拉斯维加斯的中国内地和香港的游客，数量也增长了近80%，去年达到18.8万人。
采访编辑/秦雪 后制/葛雷
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials squander so much
money in casinos; U.S. government to investigate possible laundering activities
During Chinese New Year 2012, Las Vegas-based casino
developer and operator, Wynn Resorts Ltd.
earned an overnight income of 16 million USD
on its gambling tables.
This set the company’s record of overnight income
from casino business.
As U.S. casinos are continuously visited by more
“Chinese customers”,
U.S. Treasury Department’s law-enforcing department
is currently investigating whether some “gambling agents” have concealed their fund resources.
If this is true, such an act will make Las Vegas
a new transit point for money laundering.
According to a Wall Street Journal’s report,
U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network issued a warning last month,
suggesting the casinos monitor “gambling agents”
on their operations and customers.
The casinos are encouraged to report all available
information if anything suspicious is found.
The law-enforcing agency said they had especial concern
with casinos making cross-border money transfer from agents to customers.
Unlike the careful verification process performed in banks,
casino transfers are not regulated in the same way and are
highly likely to serve as “money laundering”.
As regulated by the law, each Chinese citizen can only
transfer up to 50,000 dollars abroad each year.
Some super gamblers thus seek help from international
travel agents who can provide them a huge amount of money for gambling abroad.
Those travel agents are usually called “gaming agents”.
Some time ago, the U.S. law enforcement officers and
diplomatic representatives in Macau suspected that
the casino business in Macau serves money laundering
purposes and organized crimes.
Beijing freelancer Yin Deyi said that, “laundering
through casinos” is a common trick played by CCP’s underground banks.
He said: “To my knowledge, the best way to handle funds
of unknown origin is to make use of casinos, especially the underground casinos to launder.
There are lots of laundering agents in China.
As an example, Bo Xilai and his wife worried a lot
about how to handle their 6 billion dollars.
The problem is how to transfer that money abroad?”
Since the 1980’s, the Macau-based “gambling agents” have
played an indispensable role in the lives of rich Chinese.
This is because there is a strict limit of the cash amount
permitted to be brought abroad by Chinese residents.
(Yin Deyi):”As you can see, the Macau casinos have
become the bridge of money transfer for CCP officials.
Many of us know that those officials can spend millions
or even more overnight.
In fact, besides that they also “transfuse their blood”
abroad through casinos.”
To serve the rich, “gambling agents” first provide
a very high credit to the gamer and then collect the debt when the gamer has lost a lot in the casino.
To very wealthy gamblers, some agents even provide
the service only with an IOU before they go abroad.
The regulatory agency acknowledged that nobody knows
exactly how many agents have escaped CCP monitoring.
Head of Nevada Gaming Control Board
Mark Lipparelli said
until now no one has provided him a clear explanation on
how the money flows into Macau from China mainland.
According to a 2010 research project by Macau Polytechnic
Institute among the VIP customers of Macau casinos,
more than two thirds of the whole industry’s revenue
came from CCP officials, state-owned and private company managers.
(Gong Lei, Shandong independent writer): “For ordinary
private entrepreneurs who only earn legal income by being hardworking, they won’t squander their money in casinos.
The real purpose of super gamblers is to transfer state-owned
assets or launder the money seized from civilians or by fraud.
Most of the money is from illegal income.”
In recently years, several Las Vegas-based companies
such as MGM, Wynn and LVS opened casinos in Macau one after another.
Macau has become one of the largest gaming centers
in the world.
The 2011 total revenue of Macau’s casino industry reached
34 billion dollars, which is five times that of Las Vegas region.
At the same time, the number of Chinese and Hong Kong
visitors to Las Vegas also surged to 188,000 in 2011, 80% higher than five years ago.
