DECEMBER 14, 2017
Ontario’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO) has launched a regulatory review of Great Canadian Gaming Corp, following investigations of alleged money laundering at its flagship River Rock property in Richmond, British Columbia.
But a scandal is brewing over in British Columbia. A recent report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) concluded that anti-money laundering (AML) failures by casinos in the province have facilitated the alleged laundering of drug money and financing of terrorism.
Meanwhile, a memo sent by British Columbia’s Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch Intelligence Unit to a provincial deputy minister, and seen by Canada’s Postmedia, suggested that “organized crime presence in and around BC casinos presents a viable threat to public safety.” At the center of all this, allegedly, is the River Rock, which has been accused in a report by British Columbia’s Gaming Policy Enforcement (GPE) branch of being routinely guilty of AML violations.