by Paola La Salvia

Economic Security, Transnational Money Laundering and Regulatory Fragmentation in Digital Europe

Abstract: The progressive digitalization of the gambling market has profoundly transformed the methods through which criminal organizations reinvest and conceal the proceeds of illicit activities, turning online gambling into one of the principal hubs of contemporary economic and financial crime. The transnational nature of digital platforms, the fragmentation of national regulatory frameworks, and the increasing complexity of payment infrastructures have made money laundering progressively less dependent on the physical control of territory and increasingly focused on the management of global financial flows. This article argues that combating twenty-first-century organized crime requires a renewed concept of European economic security, grounded in the integration of law, economics, technology, intelligence, and international judicial cooperation.

Keywords: #OnlineGambling #Gambling #MoneyLaundering #OrganizedCrime #Mafia #EconomicSecurity #AntiMoneyLaundering #Europe #Digitalization #CryptoAssets #InternationalCooperation #PaolaLaSalvia #EthicaSocietas #EthicaSocietasReview #ScientificJournal #SocialSciences #ethicasocietasupli

Paola La Salvia: former attorney, senior officer of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), lecturer in economic and legal disciplines, expert in anti-money laundering and organized crime, Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, and author of several publications, including her most recent work, I malacarni, on mafia criminality. LinkedIn.

versione italiana

Over the past two decades, gambling has undergone a profound transformation. Once predominantly linked to physical venues and territorial control, it has become a fully digital global market capable of moving hundreds of billions of euros each year through online platforms accessible from virtually anywhere in the world. While this technological evolution has generated significant economic benefits and new business opportunities, it has also created vulnerabilities that criminal organizations have proven remarkably adept at exploiting.

Contemporary mafia organizations are no longer merely groups relying on violence or territorial domination. They have evolved into sophisticated economic actors capable of interpreting changes in the global marketplace, identifying sectors characterized by weaker regulation, and investing substantial financial resources in the most profitable areas of the digital economy. Among these, online gambling has become one of the most attractive.

Economic and financial analyses of organized crime demonstrate that money laundering is not simply an ancillary stage of criminal activity but rather its primary strategic objective. Illicit wealth acquires real value only when it can be reintroduced into the legitimate economy through operations capable of concealing its unlawful origin. This perspective explains the growing interest of criminal organizations in the digital gambling industry.

Unlike traditional criminal markets, online gambling offers particularly favorable conditions for the international movement of illicit capital. The speed of transactions, the possibility of operating through platforms established under multiple jurisdictions, the fragmentation of technological supply chains, and the presence of operators spread across numerous legal systems make regulatory oversight by national authorities extremely challenging.

Criminal organizations have progressively adapted their operational models to this new environment. Whereas illegal gambling once represented primarily a direct source of profit, it has increasingly become a sophisticated money-laundering mechanism through which proceeds derived from international drug trafficking, corruption, tax fraud, and other economic crimes can be reintroduced into the financial system under an appearance of legitimacy.

Within this context, the concept of regulatory forum shopping assumes particular importance. Criminal organizations carefully select jurisdictions offering simplified licensing procedures, more favorable tax regimes, or less intrusive supervisory mechanisms. This is not a random choice but a genuine entrepreneurial strategy reflecting the growing capacity of organized crime to exploit legislative differences as a competitive advantage.

The European Union offers a particularly significant example of this challenge. While anti-money laundering legislation has progressively become more harmonized through increasingly robust directives and common transparency standards, gambling regulation remains largely governed by national legal systems. This regulatory asymmetry inevitably creates grey areas that may be exploited by economic operators, intermediaries, and, not infrequently, organized criminal groups seeking to benefit from differences among national licensing regimes.

The issue therefore extends beyond mere regulatory compliance and directly affects the functioning of the European internal market. The free movement of services, a cornerstone of European integration, encounters significant limitations when confronted with equally fundamental objectives such as protecting public order, preventing money laundering, and safeguarding consumers. The absence of uniform rules governing online gambling inevitably generates jurisdictional conflicts and complicates effective cooperation among investigative authorities.

Investigations conducted in recent years reveal that organized criminal groups have developed highly sophisticated corporate structures involving shell companies, trusts, fiduciary entities, and ostensibly legitimate businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions. Through these complex corporate networks, financial resources can be transferred rapidly between countries, fragmented into numerous low-value transactions, and eventually reinvested in economic activities that appear entirely unrelated to criminal enterprises.

Money laundering has consequently acquired a distinctly transnational dimension in which physical territory has gradually given way to digital networks. Whereas traditional mafia organizations exercised power through territorial control, contemporary financial crime increasingly governs economic flows, technological platforms, and digital infrastructures. Territorial dominance is progressively being replaced by control over financial transactions.

This transformation also requires a profound cultural shift in enforcement strategies. Although criminal prosecution remains indispensable, a purely repressive approach is no longer sufficient. Effective responses require investigative models capable of integrating economic, financial, technological, and intelligence expertise. Asset investigations have become the starting point for understanding criminal organizations, tracing financial flows, identifying connections among apparently unrelated actors, and reconstructing the underlying networks of economic interests.

In this respect, Giovanni Falcone’s famous principle of “following the money” remains remarkably relevant. Today, however, following the money also requires the ability to understand algorithms, digital platforms, innovative payment instruments, crypto-assets, and decentralized financial systems. The investigative battlefield is progressively shifting from traditional crime scenes to global financial markets.

Online gambling therefore represents a privileged observatory for understanding the evolution of organized crime. It demonstrates how mafia organizations have transcended their traditional local dimension to become genuine multinational criminal enterprises capable of planning investments, diversifying risks, exploiting the opportunities created by globalization, and rapidly adapting to technological innovation.

Faced with this transformation, institutional responses must likewise undergo a qualitative leap. Harmonizing European rules governing online gambling would not merely strengthen consumer protection but would also constitute an essential pillar of the Union’s economic security. Reducing regulatory asymmetries means narrowing the spaces within which criminal organizations build their competitive advantages.

The fight against twenty-first-century organized crime is no longer waged exclusively in courtrooms or within territories historically associated with criminal activity. It increasingly unfolds within global markets, international financial networks, and the digital infrastructures that facilitate the movement of capital. Understanding this transformation means recognizing that economic security has become an integral component of both national and European security.

Organized crime continues to evolve alongside changes in the global economy. Consequently, prevention and enforcement strategies must evolve with equal speed, embracing a multidisciplinary approach in which law, economics, finance, technology, and international cooperation become integral elements of a single comprehensive strategy. Only through more integrated European governance and an increasingly sophisticated capacity to analyze financial phenomena will it be possible to reduce the operational space available to criminal economies that currently derive much of their strength from regulatory fragmentation.

Essential Bibliography

Europol. (2025). European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF). (2024). International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2024). World Drug Report.

Directive (EU) 2015/849.

Directive (EU) 2018/843.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 (AMLA).

Savona, E. U. (Ed.). Mafia e mercati.

Arlacchi, P. La mafia imprenditrice.