A new research exposed how illegal gambling is used to fund large criminal syndicate involved in racketeering, money laundering, extortion and fraud.

During a roundtable discussion at Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, the American Gaming Association has released a report by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Dr. Jay Albanese that details the significance of illegal gambling operations to organized crime organizations in the U.S.

The research shows that in 2014, there were more than 80 people in 23 states were charged and convicted for participating in illegal gambling businesses (ILGB). The convictions were centered on 40 organization, 15 or 38% of which were online and offshore betting (primarily sports-betting enterprises that operates using websites). These companies were mostly based in Costa Rica to dodge U.S. gambling laws and were found to have worked from 10 U.S. states.

One example case used by Albanese was the Gambino family-related sports betting operation that utilized the Costa Rica-based 44wager.com site to process bets. The operators collected losses and distributed winnings locally, and payments were sent via Western Union. Fees were also collected from individuals for running an independent sports gambling operations and a card club in territory controlled by the Gambino crime family of the Cosa Nostra.