Victoria Mayor backs away from casino project

Mayor Lisa Helps withdrew her support for a new venue in the Australian city over money laundering investigations in the industry.

Australia.- A downtown casino in Victoria may have some hurdles ahead as Mayor Lisa Helps has suggested the city should withdraw its support for the project. The politician is pushing a motion to recommend writing to the BC Lottery Corp and saying they’re not interested in hosting a gaming venue anymore due to recent investigations on money laundering in the B.C. gaming industry and possible gang links to fentanyl trafficking.

“I was open to it and it had kind of advanced, but there is just way too much fentanyl and organized crime and money laundering and we don’t want [that] in Victoria,” Helps said. “It’s pretty clear in my mind with all this new stuff that’s happened since council passed its original motion in 2015,” Helps  further stated and added: “There’s lots more information and it’s not very good information.”

View Royal Mayor David Screech explained the Elements Casino, the only gaming venue in the region, has been a good corporate citizen. “From our perspective, the casino is an excellent corporate citizen and our RCMP and ourselves would tell you that we haven’t had any of those problems,” Screech said and added: “I think they are valid and we need to be vigilant but I think there are measures in place that are taking care of those issues.”