The Select Committee on Gaming reviewed a Legislative Service Office draft to add money‑laundering and illegal‑investment crimes to the criminal code and to create statutory tools tailored to financial transactions tied to illegal gaming and other illicit proceeds.

Research analyst Jessie Schafer presented a comparative fact sheet covering state anti‑money‑laundering approaches in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia and summarized federal law (18 U.S.C. §1956) and a 2025 SenateFile concept the Legislature previously considered. Schafer told the committee that states that prosecute money laundering typically rely on one or more of these elements: conduct of a knowing transaction involving proceeds of unlawful activity, intent to conceal or avoid reporting requirements, transportation or transfer of criminal proceeds, or false statements to financial institutions. Penalties vary by state and can be tiered according to the amount involved.

LSO then presented draft statutory language that would create two new felony offenses: (1) money laundering, defined to include knowingly transporting or conducting transactions in property that a person knows or reasonably should know is derived from criminal activity, and (2) illegal investment, defined as conduct intended to evade transaction‑reporting requirements (for example by structuring deposits across multiple institutions). LSO noted a number of drafting choices the committee should review — including whether to adopt a federal definition of “financial institution,” whether to tie penalties to monetary thresholds to avoid making low‑value conduct a felony, and whether to reuse existing criminal‑code definitions of property.

Law enforcement and prosecution representatives told the committee they support a state anti‑money‑laundering tool but urged careful drafting. Loretta Callas, representing county and prosecuting attorneys, recommended avoiding over‑specific statutory definitions for commonly understood words (for example, “profit”) and instead using reasonable‑person constructs that juries can apply; she also recommended aligning penalties with the underlying offense where appropriate so that a low‑level predicate offense does not automatically create a felony money‑laundering charge. Alan Thompson of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police said local law enforcement would support clear statutory authority so cases that fall below federal thresholds can be pursued at the state level.

The committee voted to continue refining the draft and to have LSO work with the Gaming Commission and prosecuting attorneys on targeted language (including sideboards that would make clear the bill is aimed at professional or commercial laundering, not ordinary social games or low‑value activity).