B.C Casinos Can Stop Money Laundering By Going Cashless

Casinos in British Columbia might have come up with a unique approach to solving money laundering.

The BC government has had to spend a lot of time and resources during the last few years to address growing concerns that money laundering was taking place at BC Casinos on a regular basis.

The government has launched an investigation into the matter and has advised BC Casinos to have their anti-money laundering policies up to date to ensure that no illegal activities take place at their casinos.

There might be a solution to the money laundering problem as the City of Delta in BC has suggested that casinos going cashless might be the best way to stop money laundering activities.

The city of Delta has decided that eliminating the source of the problem is the best way to deal with money laundering. Delta has already taken steps to lobby for removing cash from casinos. The leader of this move is the city’s Mayor George Harvie. He is using the idea of cashless casinos as part of his campaign as mayor. Mayor Harvie pointed out that this was not a new idea and pointed out that New Zealand has already implemented a cashless system in many of their own casinos.

In a statement, a Delta City spokesperson said

Cashless systems require an account that is linked to the individual player whose identity has been verified. This means that gambling data can be tracked and money transactions are transparent, thereby limiting opportunities for crime such as money laundering. Funds can be moved electronically between the account and all gaming devices in the casino.

Widespread Money Laundering Problems

The money-laundering problem may sound exaggerated but according to a report commissioned by the region’s Attorney General David Eby, casinos have become a part of a major money-laundering cycle. This is because there are several underground banks who are using casinos to launder money and then send out the washed money to criminals and terrorists.

The report was commissioned to determine how bad British Columbia’s money laundering problem truly is after news broke that Vancouver’s River Rock Casino was at the center of a major money-laundering scandal. The report showed that there were ties between underground banks and Chinese gamblers who were deposing the cash at BC casinos, taking advantage of the lax anti-money-laundering policies in the state.  

Delta City will soon be home to the new Cascades Casino, which will be operated by Gateway Casinos. The city wants to implement a cashless casino system to ensure that it will not have to deal with any money laundering allegations going forward. River Rock Casino, the casino that started British Columbia’s money-laundering woes, is just ten miles away and city officials don’t want a repeat of what happened there.