Gambling firms will face tighter regulation, including on cryptocurrency transactions, as part of a Government push to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing. Minister for Finance Simon Harris will on Thursday launch a new national strategy countering money laundering and financing of terrorism, promising to strengthen existing frameworks to make it harder for criminals to anonymously move illicit funds. The strategy will pledge that casino clubs operating machine-based gambling will face a “more robust regulatory framework” and stricter enforcement of their licence conditions and anti-money laundering obligations. A new standard will be established for the gambling industry relating to the acceptance of cryptocurrency-related activities as a source of funds, which will aim to ensure appropriate due diligence is performed and the legitimacy of funds is verified. Meanwhile, gambling service providers will be told to adopt a so-called “closed loop” system, with payments to customers being made using the same payment account for depositing funds. The strategy also contains measures to increase transparency around company ownership, which the Government says will make it harder for criminals to hide behind complex corporate structures. It provides for the extension of obligations to crypto-asset transfers, which will require information on the originator and beneficiary to accompany transfers. The Department of Finance is to seek to introduce mandatory disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners and controllers of all limited partnerships. The department is also to begin discussions on a new framework to support parallel investigations of money laundering and tax or excise offences. Earlier in the summer, the 2026 National Risk Assessment found that there is a “moderate” threat level from money laundering in the Republic, with criminal networks combining traditional cash-based methods with digital approaches such as crypto assets and money-mule networks which make detection and disruption “more challenging”. Under the new strategy, the Central Bank of Ireland will be told it should develop a “systematic understanding” of how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, create vulnerabilities or present opportunities for better systems to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. The Government says it will also strengthen intelligence sharing between its departments, the Garda and the Financial Intelligence Unit within the force, Revenue, the Criminal Assets Bureau, the central bank and financial institutions. In advance of the strategy’s launch, Harris said in a statement that it will “strengthen Ireland’s ability to detect, prevent and disrupt money laundering, terrorist financing and other forms of financial crime while protecting citizens, businesses and the integrity of Ireland’s financial system”.It comes as an international money-laundering investigation into the structure of the Dubai-headquartered Kinahan cartel is under way, with gardaí co-operating with overseas law enforcement agencies to try to build a better understanding of its assets in an attempt to assist other police forces in seizing them. The Irish Times reported in May that money laundering crime has surged in the Republic, with thousands of cases now coming to the attention of gardaí annually for the first time – with the force struggling to deal with the volume. Earlier this year, the consultancy firm PwC Ireland said a majority of Irish financial institutions reported that they are not fully prepared to implement new European anti-money laundering rules (AML) which are due to come into force in early July of next year. The latest European Union AML legislative package will, among other things, establish a European agency and overhaul the supervisory framework for regulated firms. Just 43 per cent of Irish respondents told the firm that they were fully prepared for the new regime.