Amazon Offshore Gambling Laundering is Making a Big Ol’ Stink and Ticks off Authorities

5Dimes, a Costa Rican based offshore gambling site laundered huge dough in attempt to bypass US gambling financial regulations by using Amazon gift cards as betting funds and prize payments

Well, if the gambling laws in the US are not challenged enough, there are gambling companies that wish to gain a stronger hold in the US market and it appears they are looking for any alternative to do so. 5Dimes, for the past few years has deceived the US government by encouraging their customers to use Amazon gift cards to fund their betting online.

Tit for Tat Winning Bettors Awarded with Amazon Gift Card Prizes in Return

As it wouldn’t be enough, the 5Dimes managed to payback winners with Amazon gift cards as well or with merchandise that they pre-selected off of the Amazon site. With a loosely sophisticated method in enforcing these payments from customers, the site managed to successfully operate for several years.

Customers who bought cards were told to pay for cards in cash, email a photo of the card with receipt and automatically have their accounts credited. This put a big fat neon sign on Amazon offshore gambling laundering. Anyhoo, should bettors win, 5Dimes offered a 10% bonus if they chose to claim their winnings in the form of Amazon gift cards.

Amazon Not Completely in the Dark About Gift Card Usage

According to recent gambling news, it is speculated that Amazon was not completely in the dark about these shenanigans; Homeland Security found a total of $159,000 has been distributed to 15 Amazon accounts that are tied to 5dimes. Though investigations are still underway, several of these accounts have since been shut down.