McAfee: Online gambling provides method to commit money laundering

An increase in the popularity of online gambling has created a successful underground market for money laundering, according to a new McAfee study.

To make matters worse, Internet anonymity and such a wide variety of payment options gives criminals the chance to exchange stolen funds, bitcoins, and currency.

"As a result, illegal proceeds can be laundered by wagering them on one end of a transaction and receiving the payouts as gambling wins on the other end," according to the McAfee report. "Gambling wins can also be exchanged as payment for illegal goods or services changing hands elsewhere."

Many American Internet users interested in online gambling tend to spend money in European casinos, though credit card companies have tried to clamp down on this behavior. The sheer number of police authorities trying to monitor 2,734 Internet gambling websites - with more than 25,000 unregulated gambling sites online - there are multiple layers of national and international bureaucracy to work through.