Freaking Ridiculous Casino Boogie In BC

[Greg Carr]

B.C.’s illegal gambling task force was shut down in 2009 due to urgent
“funding pressure” on the B.C. Lottery Corp., according to a
confidential B.C. government memo obtained by Postmedia News.

The March 2016 memo for then finance minister Mike de Jong, is the
first known document indicating the illegal gambling task force was
disbanded by B.C. officials for financial reasons.

Also, the document suggests, in the aftermath of the unit’s closure,
organized crime in B.C. has been able to increase its dangerous reach
into both legal and illegal casinos, for the purposes of money
laundering.

The document was prepared for de Jong by B.C.’s Gaming Policy
Enforcement Branch. It says that from 2003 to 2009, the Integrated
Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team (IIGET) investigated crimes
surrounding “common gaming” houses, animal fighting, and bookmaking.
The unit was not tasked with investigating money laundering in B.C.’s
licensed casinos, the document says.

But IIGET managers in January 2009 filed a threat-assessment asking
for an expanded role, and warning of the potential influence of
organized crime in B.C. Lottery Corp. regulated casinos.

Instead, in April 2009, B.C.’s illegal gambling task force was
disbanded.

“IIGET’s budget was cut due to exigent funding pressure on the primary
funder, BCLC, and a perceived lack of effectiveness,” the March 2016
internal memo, obtained in a freedom-of-information request, says.
“Since this time, investigations and enforcement of illegal gambling
activities has been conducted by individual police departments in an
ad-hoc manner.”

IIGET received just over $1.5 million in funding each year it
operated, government documents say, while B.C.’s gaming industry
generated about $2.6 billion in revenue per year.

The memo says that as of March 2016, “there has been a significant
increase in the use of illegal gaming houses in the province and the
legitimization of proceeds of crime through B.C.’s gaming facilities.”

The memo also indicates that since 2011 in B.C. there have been no
charges laid in relation to common gaming houses.

These outcomes mirror the concerns that IIGET warned of in its January
2009 threat report for the B.C. officials that governed it.

That report, obtained by Postmedia News in a freedom of information
request, cryptically noted: “A conflict of interest or perception of
corruption undermines the integrity of gaming in B.C. and so this is a
very important part of the report.”

Information following that particular claim, is redacted.

Another section of the report says Canadian casinos are at high-risk
for money laundering, and “the integrity of gaming in B.C. could also
be impacted by the presence of influence of organized crime figures at
B.C. gaming facilities.”

The 2009 threat report said known gangsters were gambling in B.C.
casinos, and that Asian organized crime groups, Italian crime groups,
and Hells Angels operate illegal casinos in B.C. Some of these
underground operations are linked to crimes including prostitution,
extortion, loan sharking and kidnapping, the report says.

“The main issue concerning unlicensed gaming is the protection of the
public,” the report says.

The 2009 report made a number of recommendations, including “that
IIGET be the central repository for all gaming related criminal
information. At the present time gaming related criminal activities
are investigated by the police of jurisdiction. This serves to
fragment operation knowledge and is not in the best interest of
intelligence led policing.”

The report also says that from 2003 to 2009 police agencies in B.C.
have received information from Canada’s anti-money laundering agency,
Fintrac, pointing to tens of millions in suspicious transactions in
casinos. The reports are filed to Fintrac by B.C. Lottery Corp., if
B.C. casinos notice suspicious transactions. But various police
departments said they don’t have the resources to investigate the
transactions, the report said. This suggests that for many years,
B.C.’s casino anti-money laundering reporting system has been
ineffective.

The 2009 report said that IIGET should take a leadership role to
combat organized crime in gambling, similar to the role played by
Ontario Provincial Police’s organized gambling unit.

In April 2009, B.C. gaming minister Rich Coleman shut IIGET down.

According to media reports at the time, Coleman has claimed IIGET was
inefficient, had a high staff turnover rate, and was redundant.

In an interview Monday, former B.C. finance minister Mike de Jong said
he could not comment on the financial decision to close the “old unit”
in 2009. However, de Jong pointed to his role in forming B.C.’s new
Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team in April 2016.

Meanwhile, documents filed to de Jong in March 2016 also pointed to
alleged under-reporting of suspicious cash transactions.

Prior to November 2015, River Rock Casino in Richmond “did not review
large cash transactions of $50,000 or less for indicators of being
suspicious transactions,” the March 2016 memo says. “BCLC has met with
Fintrac to report on and brief them on the under-reporting of
suspicious transaction reports at the River Rock Casino … the issues
were first identified on November 2, 2015, while conducting a review
of a specific customer’s transactions that had come to the attention
of BCLC’s anti-money laundering unit.”

Great Canadian Gaming Corp. did not respond to questions for this
story, but cited statements from CEO Rod Baker in a press release
issued Monday.

“Great Canadian has a culture of integrity and transparency founded on
our strict compliance with the regulations in all jurisdictions where
we do business,” the statement says.

Postmedia reported on Saturday that BCLC anti-money-laundering staff
met with River Rock managers in October 2014 to discuss concerns about
a number of VIP gamblers who were funding their gambling with
cash-drops from suspected criminals, and that River Rock managers
agreed suspicious cash problems were serious and needed to be dealt
with, according to documents.

Some of these suspects became the focus of the RCMP’s E-Pirate probe,
launched in April 2015, according to B.C. government documents.

In its statement Monday, Great Canadian said: “In relation to the
recent charges in the RCMP’s E-Pirate probe into alleged money
laundering activities, Great Canadian initially detected this
suspicious activity at River Rock in 2012. Our ongoing monitoring and
reporting to BCLC was, in fact, crucial to identifying these
individuals to authorities. We are pleased that charges have been laid
as an outcome of our collaborative work with BCLC and law
enforcement.”

BCLC did not respond to questions for this story, referring all
questions to B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General. The ministry did
not respond by deadline for this story.

sco...@postmedia.com

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/illegal-gaming-unit-killed-in-2009-due-to-bclc-funding-pressure
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At best the BC Liberals were lame on this file at worst they were
scared or bribed or both into screwing up this file. Over a saving of
a piddly 1.5 million??? Not wise use of the taxpayer dollars. Happy
hunting AG David Eby the shining star of the NDP cabinet.
Any chance to mess with the Mafia and Asian organized crime and HAMC
at what is a relatively low expense should be followed up in this
province. The other news reports say around 250 million dollars in
laundered money is involved. If that could be seized through civil
forfieture we could build a dozen homeless shelters and some drug
rehab facilities for BC. Hope Diane Watts becomes leader of the BC
Liberals.

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