The crackdown on casinos in British Colombia is becoming hotter by the day contrary to what was anticipated when the exercise began. Recent reports have it that the business has suffered big time and this is evident in the rate of growth now experienced. The province’s most prominent casino is now at 0.1 growth rate, which has hit rock bottom compared over 4.4 where it was in 2014.
The particular provinces in BC, according to casino.org have not had a good history either when it comes to money laundering. For quite some time the portals have had fights with the authorities, with claim involvement with underground banks. That is, dirty business that involves dirty money from drug trafficking has been feared to take place in these casinos and this is what led to the severe crackdown.
To counter and fight the allegations, the British Columbia authorizes adopted what they call new AML procedures, which demand that casino outlet that spend anything in the upwards of CA$10,000 within 24 hours to make it a routine of providing authentic proof of how they made that money. That this, whether it came from gambling on any alleged business, the business must show the actual origin of the money and the reason it was spent.
Besides just submitting the daily audits, the AML has put all the target casinos under tight 24/7 surveillance. The actual reason for all these strict laws is that reports had reached the provincial authorities through AG David Eby who steers casino oversight in BC that the businesses are at a point where they didn’t mind the source of the money being gambled anymore.
While the monitoring is more concentrated on what is are considered as the high-risk venues, the AML team says they are also on a mission to tract secretly operating money laundering portals.
According to Eby and the team, they have applauded those casinos that have tried to work with them to explain or at least question big cash transactions that have taken place under their glare.
Other sources that have followed the crackdown trails point out that the River Rock Casino located in what gamblers call the coolest of Richmond is the most affected. Last year, the business reported revenues earnings of over 323.7 million but the records show this has dropped by 22.9 percent of what was earned in 2014.
With such change in revenue earrings, this sends a clear signal to the authorities that indeed there has been something scrupulous going on. However, what is not clear is whether the AML team has been able to follow through any particular case and consequently bring the offenders to book.
The explanation given is that the underground banks are used as a way to escape tracing, where foreigners entering china can allegedly borrow cash then use it to gable and transfer it to another bank before actually withdrawing to cover the trails.
The war is not ending anytime soon, well, that’s according to the newly deployed team by the AML.
