Canadian casinos see revenue drop

The new anti-money laundering measures have harmed the casino industry in British Columbia during the first half of 2018.

Canada.- Anti-money laundering measures are definitely necessary in any industry but they seem to have hurt the casino segment in British Columbia. Revenues at the River Rock and Parq casinos during the first half of the year were down and companies behind them blame the new rules to counter money laundering, which requires casinos to complete disclosures on the source of cash deposits or bearer bonds of more than €6.6k.

According to Great Canadian Gaming, which operates the River Rock Casino in Richmond, revenues dropped in the first six months, mainly due to a decline in gaming tables’ earnings. Meanwhile, the Parq casino in Vancouver was also down due to “business impacts” generated by regulatory costs.

B.C. Attorney General David Eby explained that the measures have been effective so far as suspicious transactions have dropped from €13.2 millon (2015) to €132k in March. “Certainly, we recognized at the very beginning that taking action on this would result in some financial reductions,” he said and added: “We expect all of our service providers to understand that in the name of cracking down on crime, and in the name of cracking down on money laundering, they should be prepared to see decreases in those high-stakes tables because this is an action we have to take.”