N.B. and N.S. gaming Crown corps fined for lax money laundering reports

Canada’s money laundering watchdog has fined the Crown corporations in charge of gaming in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for failing to submit reports regarding suspicious activity involving the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

Fintrac said in a news release Thursday that it fined the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation almost $400,000 and the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation almost $232,000. Both Crown corporations have paid the fines and the investigations have been closed.

The organizations failed to submit suspicious transaction reports when there were reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering or terrorist activity, the release said.

Nova Scotia Gaming was also cited for a failure to develop up-to-date written compliance policies. In addition, Fintrac said Nova Scotia Gaming failed to document the risk of money laundering or a terrorist activity financing offence.

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In a statement, Fintrac’s acting director and CEO, Stéphane Sirard, said regulated businesses have obligations under Canadian law to file reports to deter criminals and terrorists from operating in the legitimate economy.

“We will take firm action, when it is required, to ensure that businesses do their part and fulfil these obligations,” Sirard said in the statement.

Spokespeople for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick said Thursday that the fines are administrative and related to the Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s online casino operations. The lottery corporation is jointly owned by the governments of the four Atlantic provinces.

René Legacy, New Brunswick’s finance minister, said in a statement that no evidence of money laundering was found.

“It is important to point out that the degree of real harm associated with any of the audit findings was minimal,” he said in an email.

Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation spokesperson Rachel Boomer said there were two cases where reports were not issued to Fintrac. She said the transactions were valued at $750 and $465 and there was no evidence of money laundering.

“We take this seriously. We investigated immediately, banned and suspended the players, and have changed our policies to address Fintrac’s concerns,” she said in an email.