New Money Laundering Rules Hurt British Columbia’s Biggest Casinos

British Columbia’s biggest casinos have reported sluggish returns for 2018 and one of the main reasons for the slow growth was due to the new money laundering rules.

The annual growth rate of BC casinos was 4.4 percent back in 2014. However, the combined revenue for BC casinos in 2018 was just 0.1 percent higher than the revenues recorded in 2017, which shows things have regressed in the casino industry last year.

Casinos who provided slot machines and table games found that while the slot machines’ revenue share increased from 71.3 percent in 2014 to 79.1 percent in 2018. But at the same time their table games’ revenue share decreased from 28.7 percent in 2014 to 20.3 percent in 2018. 

The observed decrease in table games was also noted by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). The BCLC released their annual report for brick and mortar casinos which showed that their revenue had failed to grow in the past year, remaining at C$1.9b. BCLC are owned by the province but are privately managed. The report found that the revenue shares from slot machines went up by 2.6 percent but table games’ revenue share dropped by 7.8 percent when compared to last year’s results. 

Money Laundering Rules Hurt Revenue

As a result of high-profile lapses among casinos in the Vancouver area regarding anti-money laundering protocols, the casino industry was forced to comply with new money laundering laws which were rolled out in January 2018. 

The British Columbia’s casino industry was hit with a stricter mandate to get proof regarding ‘source of funds’ for transactions exceeding C$10,000. These limitations may have put off certain segments of VIP customers, effectively decreasing the number of table game players while keeping slots players relatively consistent.

Top Casinos In B.C.

The biggest moneymaker remains the River Rock, with revenues totaling C$323.7 million in 2018, which is significantly lower than the C$420 million it earned in 2014. River Rock reported an average of $1.7 million per table for their table games, which is the highest among all casinos in the province. The Grand Villa Casino, Parq Vancouver, Cascades Casino Langley, and Hard Rock Casino Vancouver garnered second, third, fourth, and fifth respectively in terms of average revenue.

Parq Vancouver’s third place is especially noteworthy given that it is the province’s only casino to gain more revenue from its table games than slots, though its slot machines’ average revenue per machine dwarfs the machines from Parq’s competitors.