Unfortunately, the Canadian region of British Columbia has had money laundering issues. Since the beginning of 2000, this issue has been a problem. These laundering issues were brought to a head when one of the gaming inspectors’ position was terminated. The inspector was fired. However, his charges were cleared but not soon enough to save his job.
Gaming In British Columbia
Gaming is a lucrative business throughout Canada. Throughout British Columbia, residents can enjoy lotteries, sports betting, online gambling, online games, bingo games, and horse racing, to name a few. In British Columbia, gaming is a booming 1-billion-dollar business.
What Happened?
The inspector, in question, was working undercover as the senior investigative supervisor for Gaming and Policy Enforcement. The inspector had spent over 50 years in law enforcement. In 2014, the inspector was terminated without being given any reason for his dismissal.
In the Vancouver gambling casinos, the inspector observed $20 bills started showing up in large amounts. Also, $100 bills were being used in high-stakes casino games. It turned out these monies where being imported into Vancouver from other countries, primarily from Asia and surrounding states. Upon thorough inspection, it was discovered these monies were coming from gangs in Asia and China for money laundering.
The investigative team also found that relations between regulatory agencies were slack with the casinos and gaming in Canada. As a result of the regulatory agencies not paying close enough attention to casino’s operations, they were overlooking apparent issues. As a result of the invesgtiatie team findings, the inspector and his entire investigative team loss their jobs.
Government Report Findings
Even though the inspector and his team were fired, the report of their investigation was researched by the deputy commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Their research found issues with the casino owners and the regulatory departments that were supposed to be looking into the casino’s operations. These regulators were taken out of their jurisdiction. A new regulatory team was assigned, and one of their primary purposes was to regulate the money laundering occurring in casinos.
The gangs from Asia laundering money through the casinos have been arrested, along with dealers who were bringing the money to be laundered directly into the casinos. Now all money is being counted by the casino before being used in high-stakes game rooms. Gamers can no longer exchange money for different dominations in high-stakes games.