Canada: BC to lose money on money laundering crackdown

A report commissioned by the British Columbia showed a crackdown on money laundering in casinos would cost €29 million.

Canada.- The British Columbia Lottery Corporation commissioned a report from HLT Advisory Inc which revealed that the province’s crackdown on money laundering casinos would take €29 million from BC’s annual budget.

The report assessed that a ban on “high limit” table gambling – in which cash buy-ins exceed €6,000 – would be catastrophic for gaming revenues, causing a reduction of up to €18.6 million in revenues. Furthermore, it projected that it would drive away big gamblers but merely get the rest of them to bet one dollar bellow the limit. Meanwhile, B.C.’s share of gambling revenue through the BCLC would lose an amount between €11.5 million and €29.3 million.

The BCLC is also waiting for the results of another report issued to former high-ranking Mountie Peter German, who will deliver his own results before the end of this month.

Money laundering took the spotlight in British Columbia after a report commissioned by the former BC Liberal government in 2016 (released last year) which found irregularities at Richmond’s River Rock Casino, including the acceptance of single cash buy-ins in excess of €310,000. It also detailed that the majority of the large cash transactions flowing through the casino were from “high roller Asian VIP clients.”