After weeks of talks around money laundering in casinos – especially around the River Rock Casino in Richmond – the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation is finally speaking out.
A release by the company says it has an obligation to report unusual and large cash transactions to the B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC).
“We are proud of our track record, and the positive and open working relationship we have with our regulatory authorities and crown partners,” said president and CEO Rod Baker in a release.
The statement says the company goes “beyond” regulatory obligations and proactively undertakes investigative work on its own, despite not being obligated to under the anti-money laundering program.
“Contrary to suggestions in certain media reports, to our knowledge our company is not under investigation in any jurisdiction,” added Baker.
“Our employees followed all procedures required of them by BCLC and we do not believe our company’s actions would give cause to initiate an investigation.”
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The statement says the company detected suspicious activity at River Rock back in 2012, dding that the casino’s monitoring and reporting to the BCLC was “crucial” to identifying the individuals involved.
Great Canadian says every year River Rock is subject to up to 25 compliance reviews by the BCLC, as well as audits by the Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch.
It also says any large cash transactions are reported to BCLC when an individual attempts to exchange more than $10,000 in cash over a 24 hour period.
The statement comes after a series of stories by the Vancouver Sun uncovering alleged large cash transactions where individuals walk in with so-called dirty money – exchanged for chips – and later cashed out for bigger bills.