Military service members charged at least $500,000 on gambling, drinking, nightclubs and online games to their government travel charge cards in 2023 without triggering alarms among finance officials, an inspector general report found.
The report, “Audit of the DoD Government Travel Charge Card Program: The Visa IntelliLink Compliance Management System” reviewed the effectiveness of the system, known as VICM. The investigation found holes in the watchdog program, which allowed fraud and unauthorized spending to slip past officials. Many were minor, like paying for online gaming apps or drinks on holidays or during the Super Bowl, while others kept up fraudulent charges for months.
One Air Force cardholder, investigators found, managed to use his card for a five-month gambling spree that went undetected by their base finance office or their commander.
A five-month gambling spree went unnoticed
On April 22, 2023, the Air Force cardholder took out $200 — plus a $7.95 service charge — at a casino ATM at MGM National Harbor in Maryland, a Marriott-owned casino about 10 miles from the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. Later the same day, they took out another $200, with another $7.95 charge on top — the first two of more than 20 withdrawals at the casino by the Airman that travel card system failed to notice.
Transactions on ATMs owner by companies that supply cash machines to casinos are generally flagged by the VICM system, but the airman in Maryland began their good run of bad luck with their travel card in early 2023, the company behind the National Harbor ATM had just changed its name from Global Cash Access to the more mundane Everi. The VICM system had not changed its database to the new name.
Four days after their first casino visit, the airman went back and tried to withdraw $300 in cash and then just $200 against their travel card, but both requests were declined.
But the next Saturday, their luck changed.
On April 29, the Airman charged the card for $400 in cash. The next Friday, they took $500 and a second attempt to get another $500 was declined. The following Monday, they were back for yet another $500.
Then a few days later, the Air Force cardholder made $1,500 in cash charges the casino, and then another $1,000 over the next week to close out May.
In June, the airman charged $2,267 against the card. In July, they charged $3,700. In August, they were up to $1,900 when IG investigators spotted the account and alerted the airman’s finance officials and commander.
Including ATM fees, the Airman charged $10,633 in 21 withdrawals at National Harbor and two withdrawals at a second Maryland casino. The Airman, the IG report said, was given an Article 15, or nonjudicial punishment.
The $10,633 in casino withdrawal were the most egregious example IG investigators found of undetected GTC abuse in 2023 and early 2024, but far from the only ones.
Surges for Super Bowl, UFC and holidays
Military members hold about 2.3 million travel cards, and spent about $6.4 billion in 24 million transactions in the 2023 fiscal year, the vast majority of which were authorized on-duty expenses. Generally, military members are required to pay for all on-duty travel expenses — think hotels, rental cars, food, etc. — with their GTC. Cash withdrawals are allowed.
Still, the IG found 11,000 charges totaling roughly $500,000 slipped past monitors, ranging from buying drinks at a bar during the Super Bowl to online gaming to cash withdrawals for gambling like the Maryland airman. The IG also highlighted 7,805 “high risk” merchants — like casinos, nightclubs and online app stores — that had not been spotted.
A large chunk of those unauthorized purchases were predictable by a calendar. Troops spent $112,485 at “Bar, Lounge, Disco, Nightclub, Tavern-Alcoholic Drinks” on just a handful of holidays and sporting events. About half of that spending came during the 11 major federal holidays, but two sporting events and two well-known party days accounted for nearly as much. The dates of the Super Bowl, a major Ultimate Fighting Championship event, St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco De Mayo each accounted for about 10% of the unauthorized travel card party-spending in 2024.
Though bars and casinos fit the traditional mold of “off-limits” spending for government credit cards, the largest single merchant with unauthorized charges, the IG found, was Google. From 2020 to 2024, the IG found, troops spent nearly $150,000 on Google Play apps using their government travel cards.
But while it appears that some troops still occasionally try to gamble, drink and game on the government dime, unauthorized charges are down from the old days. A 2015 audit, the IG noted, found nearly $1 million in gambling charges and nearly $100,000 at strip clubs.
Correction (1/27/25): A previous version of this story incorrectly noted that the IG had spotted unauthorized charges of half a billion dollars in the travel card program. The amount was roughly $500,000, or about half a million.
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