Running a successful drug empire in Schedule 1 is more than moving product—you also have to make that stack of dirty cash to be fully clean. The game caps your weekly ATM deposits at $10,000, which can be a lot in the game’s beginning until your street hustle starts taking off. Once you’re raking in way more than that, you’ll need to launder your money to use it for upgrades, supplies, and new properties.
Thankfully, you can clean your cash by investing in legit-looking businesses. These properties unlock as you progress through the story and become your source to launder larger money. Sure, buying a business takes good saving up as they don’t come cheap but by owning them, you’ll be able to wash your illegal money and keep your business running nicely without the banks raising an eyebrow. Here’s what laundering does in Schedule 1, how to use it effectively, and why it becomes essential once you earn a lot of cash.
Why Launder Money?
Money laundering in Schedule 1 at first might seem like an unnecessary extra step. After all, can’t you simply use the ATM to deposit your money? You can but as we know, the ATM in Schedule 1 operates with a weekly deposit limit so it can work well when you’re a small-time operator making a couple grand a day. But as your drug empire expands and you’re making around $5K–$15K per day, that ATM cap will quickly bottleneck your financial flow.
That’s where laundering businesses like the Laundromat, Post Office, or Arcade play their part. These let you “clean” a set amount of your dirty cash daily, bypassing the ATM limit. For example, the Laundromat allows up to $2,000 per day, equating to an extra $14,000 per week laundered and moved into your bank account.
If you’re aiming for big money, laundering is the only way to move the large stacks legally (well, legally-ish) into your bank where you can use them for real estate, upgrades, or legit expenses.
How to Launder Money in Schedule 1
Once you have some starting capital (and maybe a few illegal sales under your belt), look out for laundering businesses on the Real Estate market. The Laundromat is often the first you’ll encounter, and it’s relatively cheap to buy (costs $4,000) at the start. As your profits grow, you can unlock other laundering spots like the Arcade, Bar, or Warehouse. Each business has its daily laundering limit, and many can be upgraded to increase their capacity bar.
Once you own a business, you’ll get access to its backroom, where you’ll go to wash your money. Walk up to the laundering machine, interact with it, and feed in your illegal cash. You can clean thousands of dollars at a time, a lot more than what the ATM allows. Though each business has a daily laundering limit so you may need to visit your laundering business regularly to funnel your dirty cash through it.
The amount you can launder is connected to the business tier—don’t expect to clean $10K at a dingy, broken arcade. Some players try to avoid this daily run, but doing so delays your progress. The more you clean your money, the faster you can reinvest it into your empire. Also, the businesses you buy are more than money washers, they come with passive perks and storage space.
After the transaction is done, the laundered money appears in your bank account (blue cash) rather than your on-hand stash (green cash). This is important because many purchases (like vehicles, hardware, or properties) require bank funds, you can’t spend dirty cash at most legal businesses and clean money gives you access to bigger opportunities. Lastly, don’t wait until you’re overrun with dirty cash but buy at least one laundering business as soon as you can afford it.
How to Use Business Deposit in Schedule 1
After you’ve laundered money at your owned business, your clean funds are stored in the business’s internal cash pool. From here, you’ll need to transfer those dollars to your personal bank account to spend them ahead for different needs and purchases.
Open the Business Management menu from your in-game phone or directly through the business UI, and look for the “Deposit to Bank” or “Business Deposit” option. Select how much you want to add and confirm it. As long as you keep laundering money through your business, you can deposit as much as you want and whenever you want. That’s what makes owning a business so crucial for late-game expansion. Without it, you’re only sitting on piles of unusable cash, and that’s a surefire way to stall your growth.
Each laundering business has a daily cap such as:
- Laundromat: ~$2,000 per day
- Arcade/Bar: Higher limits with upgrades
- Warehouse/Docks: Even higher, great for late game
Your task is to frequently visit and deposit the dollars. The right way is to layer your laundering operations, meaning you want multiple businesses to avoid bottlenecks as your earnings rise. Once you make over $15K/day, it’s better to have many laundering outlets to stay ahead of the game’s limits.
Many of the things you need to upgrade your empire only accept bank (blue) money including properties (production sites, laundering fronts), vehicles, hardware, ingredients (from legitimate stores), different upgrades, and equipment. Sure, your corner store may accept green cash, but when you want to play in the big leagues, clean money is the one to use in Schedule 1.
