{"id":777029817,"date":"2025-08-01T09:32:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T12:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777029817"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:27:33","slug":"christchurch-casino-faces-penalty-for-alleged-aml-cft-breaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/christchurch-casino-faces-penalty-for-alleged-aml-cft-breaches","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch Casino faces penalty for alleged AML\/CFT breaches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Internal Affairs has said that a settlement has been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

New Zealand.- The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)<\/strong> has reported that a settlement has been reached in civil proceedings against Christchurch Casinos<\/a> for alleged breaches of its obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML\/CFT Act).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DIA said the casino had admitted all seven causes of action and had agreed to join DIA in recommending that the High Court impose a penalty of NZ$5.06m (US$2.9m). Its probe found that the casino had failed to implement and maintain a compliance programme, adequately monitor accounts, conduct compliant enhanced customer due diligence, end business relationships when required, and keep required records by the Act from December 2018 to December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serge Sablyak, director of AML\/CFT Group, said: \u201cThis agreement is a significant and positive outcome. It\u2019s encouraging to achieve our intended result without the time and expense of court proceedings. While the regulatory breaches were serious, we acknowledge Christchurch Casino\u2019s decision to admit to the breaches and take responsibility for what were substantial failings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We\u2019re proud that our work has strengthened the integrity of New Zealand\u2019s financial system and has helped build public confidence in the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christchurch Casino chief executive Brett Anderson stated: \u201cWe have a remediation plan in place to ensure our policies, processes and controls are robust. This plan is under way and will make certain we meet our regulatory requirements and live up to the trust that is placed in us by our community. We are committed to getting this right, not just for today but also for the future, and look forward to working with the DIA to ensure that we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The casino is not alleged to have been directly involved in money laundering or the financing of terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill to regulate online casino gambling passes first reading in New Zealand parliament<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Online Casino Gambling Bill<\/a> recently passed its first reading in the New Zealand parliament. The legislation, introduced by minister of internal affairs Brooke van Velden<\/strong>, would allows for up to 15 online gambling licences to be auctioned, introducing safeguards to the currently unregulated online market.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Bill to regulate online casino gambling passes first reading in New Zealand parliament<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Internal Affairs has said that a settlement has been reached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":777029785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Department of Internal Affairs has reached a NZ$5.06m settlement with Christchurch Casinos for admitted breaches of the AML\/CFT Act, citing failures in compliance programs, customer due diligence, and record-keeping from 2018-2023. Concurrently, New Zealand's parliament has advanced the Online Casino Gambling Bill, which proposes auctioning up to 15 online gambling licenses to regulate the nascent digital market.","focusai_entities":"Department of Internal Affairs, Christchurch Casinos, Serge Sablyak, Brett Anderson, Brooke van Velden","focusai_location":"New Zealand, Christchurch","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"AML Remediation Impact","query":"What specific enhancements to its compliance program, particularly regarding enhanced customer due diligence and transaction monitoring, has Christchurch Casinos implemented post-settlement, and how will the DIA verify their efficacy?"},{"label":"Online Licensing Framework","query":"Beyond the proposed 15 licenses, what are the anticipated B2C licensing criteria, technical standards, and responsible gambling provisions expected to be detailed in the Online Casino Gambling Bill, and what is the projected timeline for market launch?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,154],"tags":[12436,338],"class_list":["post-777029817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legislation-news","tag-casinos","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777029817"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777029831,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029817\/revisions\/777029831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777029785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777029817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777029817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777029817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}