Fresh fears over money laundering
Suspicious transactions have doubled at casinos
Two years after steps were made to stop money laundering through B. C. casinos, the problem appears to have worsened.
Suspicious transactions at government-licensed casinos have more than doubled since a 2011 government audit identified lax rules in how B. C. Lottery Corporation reports suspicious transactions, Finance Minister Mike de Jong said Thursday.
In 2011, the branch forwarded 459 suspicious cases to police for investigation. By 2013, the number had jumped to 1,013.
Since 2011, BCLC and the province’s gaming policy and enforcement branch have tightened up how they report and deal with large transactions that could be money- laundering.
In an interview, de Jong acknowledged that some casino and enforcement branch staff are frustrated and said he, too, is unhappy with the continuing perception that B. C.’ s casinos are a haven for money launderers.
“What I am detecting is a degree of frustration on the part of some officials who collect that information, forward it on and lose track of what becomes of it,” he said. “There is training for staff and there are initiatives designed to move folks who gamble and participate in gaming away from a cash- based system to electronic transfers, which is by far and away the easier way and better way for this to happen. But we’re clearly not there yet and there are still these examples that raise eyebrows, and you can understand why they raise eyebrows.”
Under Canadian and B. C. laws on proceeds of crime, money laundering and terrorist financing, casino staff are supposed to log and report transactions of $ 10,000 or more. Often, legitimate gamblers bring in large amounts of cash. But, over the years, casinos also have been seen by criminals as an easy way to launder dirty money by converting a large amount of cash into chips ( or putting the cash on account with the casino), using a small portion of them at tables and then cashing out and asking for a cheque.
On Wednesday, CTV reported that none of the 1,013 suspicious cases reported to the RCMP last year led to charges. It reported several cases in which individuals brought hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash into Great Canadian Gaming’s River Rock Casino in Richmond.
In one 2012 case — after BCLC had tightened its rules — a man described as “Mr. F” brought $ 200,000 in $ 20 bills into the casino’s VIP room. The report cited by CTV said the man had once brought in $ 1.6 million in a single month and had a long history of suspicious transactions. The enforcement branch believed the man and others were being supplied by a source with large amounts of money.
The accounts are similar to ones media reported in 2011 that triggered a government investigation that found loopholes in BCLC’s structure for reporting suspicious transactions. The review found the lottery corporation didn’t consider gambler losses as a sign of money laundering, a viewpoint at odds with police and other experts.
In a statement in 2012, BCLC said it had changed its views and was working more closely with police. It said it had also enhanced its anti- money laundering programs by, among other things, returning cheques to patrons who have unspent balances with the words “Return of Funds — Not Gaming Winnings.” This is a way of foiling launderers from claiming they earned the money through gambling.