{"id":8168,"date":"2014-10-17T15:56:26","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/10\/17\/british-colombia-a-rush-of-suspicious-money-totalling-almost-27-million-flowed-through-two-b-c-casinos\/"},"modified":"2014-10-17T15:56:26","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:56:26","slug":"british-colombia-a-rush-of-suspicious-money-totalling-almost-27-million-flowed-through-two-b-c-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/10\/17\/british-colombia-a-rush-of-suspicious-money-totalling-almost-27-million-flowed-through-two-b-c-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"British Colombia: A rush of suspicious money totalling almost $27 million flowed through two B.C. casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nPromise to clean up ‘dirty money’ at B.C. casinos results in little change, says NDP critic<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tVideo http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/river-rock-starlight-casinos-saw-27m-in-suspicious-transactions-this-spring-1.2802281<\/a><\/p>\n

\tA CBC News investigation has discovered a rush of suspicious money totalling almost $27 million flowed through two B.C. casinos this spring.<\/p>\n

\tMost of the mystery money that came in from mid-March to mid-June arrived in bundles of $20 bills \u2014 a common currency used to buy street drugs.<\/p>\n

\tWith cash transactions at casinos, the source of the money is unknown and there is the possibility that gangsters are using the system to launder dirty money: buying in, but not necessarily betting, and then cashing out the credit and claiming the income as winnings.<\/p>\n

\tThree years ago, the B.C. government said it would move away from large cash transactions at casinos in a move to crack down on suspected money laundering, but critics say that clearly hasn’t happened.<\/p>\n

\tJan. 2011 | B.C. to move against casino money-laundering
\n\tMORE | B.C. casinos rapped for not checking patrons’ backgrounds
\n\tDocuments obtained through a Freedom of Information request show that in three months, $2.5 million in suspicious transactions occurred at New Westminster’s Starlight Casino, and $24 million was flagged as suspicious at Richmond’s River Rock Casino.<\/p>\n

\tIn some cases, people arrived with shopping bags and suitcases packed full of bills in $20 and $50 denominations.<\/p>\n

\tOne person brought in $800,000 in twenties. Another showed up one day with $1.1 million in cash.<\/p>\n

\tIn all, 500 reports of suspicious transactions were obtained through CBC News’ information request. The documents show that most of the cases were red-flagged by casino security and the incidents filed with the province’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, but police were almost never called in.<\/p>\n

\tIn 2011, documents obtained by CBC News showed that the same two casinos were part of suspicious transactions, but in a similar time period the total amount of flagged exchanges came to just $8 million.<\/p>\n

\tMike Farnworth, the NDP’s finance critic, said the sum total of the incidents from just this spring shows the government’s promises three years ago haven’t yet made a difference.<\/p>\n

\t"They haven’t done, I think, any meaningful changes since that time and that shows by the FOI results that CBC has obtained," he said.<\/p>\n

\tThe province insists the switch to electronic cash transactions is ongoing, and the amount exchanged in traceable transactions is growing.<\/p>\n

\tFull statement from B.C.’s Ministry of Finance, Oct. 16, 2014<\/p>\n

\tThese reports reflect the active monitoring and reporting by casinos of cash coming into their establishments. The information in these reports provides background for further investigation if required.<\/p>\n

\tCasinos are required to identify and report any large cash transactions of $10,000 or more to BCLC which, under federal legislation, is then required to report to Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).<\/p>\n

\tThe Gaming Control Act requires casinos to immediately notify Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) of any conduct, activity, or incident that may be contrary to the Criminal Code, Gaming Control Act or Gaming Regulation. This includes suspicious currency transactions.<\/p>\n

\tCases where there are findings of suspected criminal activity are shared with the police of jurisdiction where appropriate. The authority to further investigate lies with the police.<\/p>\n

\tAdditional information:<\/p>\n

\tGovernment launched an Anti-Money Laundering strategy in 2011 focused on reducing the use of cash, to minimize the opportunity for money laundering to take place through gaming facilities.<\/p>\n

\tImprovements under this strategy include:<\/p>\n

\tPatron Gaming Fund accounts,
\n\tthe ability to electronically transfer money into those accounts through Canadian and US chartered banks,
\n\tthe ability to deposit bank drafts into Patron Gaming Fund accounts,
\n\tbuy-ins with cheques from Canadian casinos,
\n\tinternet transfers,
\n\tcustomer convenience cheques,
\n\ta "cheque hold" system for high-volume players, and
\n\tdebit withdrawals at the cash cage.
\n\tThere has been significant progress in providing traceable cash alternatives.<\/p>\n

\tThe use of electronic transaction options such as Patron Gaming Funds accounts, debit and ATM transactions continues to grow. In the last six months of 2014, there were nearly 9,800 debit transactions at casinos for a total of $18,158,390. When this option was first introduced in 2012, there were only 50 transactions during the first six months.<\/p>\n

\tMoney laundering is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada and it is the RCMP and\/or the police of jurisdiction who are responsible for investigating and recommending criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\tQuestions concerning money laundering investigations and\/or prosecutions should be directed to the RCMP and\/or police of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

\n

Replies:<\/h3>\n

No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Promise to clean up ‘dirty money’ at B.C. casinos results in little change, says NDP critic Video http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/river-rock-starlight-casinos-saw-27m-in-suspicious-transactions-this-spring-1.2802281 A CBC News investigation has discovered a rush of suspicious money totalling almost $27 million flowed through two B.C. casinos this spring….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}