- The Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. Has largely concluded its probe into casinos – a key issue that propelled the inquest, due in large part to media reports.
- List of Land-Based Casinos in British Columbia. There are nearly 40 brick-and-mortar casinos within British Columbia. Even the most remote residents here won’t need to drive too far before hitting one of these gambling establishments. Below are 10 of the best casinos in BC right now: River Rock Casino Resort – Richmond.
- Locate and compare Casinos in Victoria BC, Yellow Pages Local Listings. Find useful information, the address and the phone number of the local business you are looking for.
- Type Ownership Facilities Name Region/city Prov. R D C REC GO FN PF PO C NFP S SAR R V Lake City Casino Penticton: Penticton: BC: 2000: Starlight Casino.
Where did the buck stop? Or, rather, where did the duffel bags stuffed with $20 bills – suspected to be from Vancouver’s deadly, illicit opioid trade – stop?
British Columbia Here's what B.C. Casinos might look like when they (eventually) reopen There’s no set date for casinos to reopening in B.C., but plans are already underway for what the “new.
That’s the constant question circling over the public inquiry into money laundering in B.C. during recent testimony from four key executives from the B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC), the Crown corporation tasked to manage gambling in the province.
Over two weeks, Allison Latimer and Patrick McGowan, counsel for the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C., examined three former heads of security and compliance for BCLC and their boss, president and CEO Jim Lightbody, in an attempt to drill down on what BCLC knew, and did – or did not do – about frequent six-figure buy-ins with small denominations bundled in elastic bands.
“Was it your expectation that for players wanting to buy in at that level it would be much more convenient and easier for them to arrive with a bank draft or have funds wired rather than walking in with a duffel bag or grocery bag full of $20 bills?” McGowan asked Lightbody.
The longtime BCLC boss, now on medical leave, explained that it was his understanding Chinese people wanted to use cash for cultural reasons, and as to hide their gambling from the Chinese government and family, perhaps.
These cash buy-ins are central to the portion of the inquiry looking at money laundering in B.C. casinos.
What is purported, and largely accepted or uncontested, is that cash from Vancouver’s deadly drug trade, much of it stemming from China-derived fentanyl and Mexican cocaine, made its way through casinos. It was first collected by so-called underground bank operators in Richmond, on behalf of transnational organized crime networks, and loaned to gamblers, among others. And each time a gambler lost, they would repay the drug cash by other means, including asset transfers back in China to a partner of the local underground bank.
There are six major players involved: the gamblers; BCLC; the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB); police; government ministries and casinos.
To date, the commission has heard from BCLC and GPEB investigators and some former police officers. Friction and lack of communication between the three entities, as well as government, has been a common theme.
Over the past two weeks, the BCLC officials were questioned about the bundles of $20 bills, while hearing back from them about anti-money laundering (AML) policies they were implementing.
Still, evidence provided to the commission from investigators shows large cash buy-ins occurred regularly, especially between 2010 and 2017 – and peaking in 2015 when government agencies became aware of a large RCMP investigation of one underground bank called Silver International handling upwards of $200 million per year in suspected proceeds of crime.
It seems filing transaction reports to a federal agency (BCLC was fined in 2010 for violations), introducing voluntary electronic fund accounts and implementing anti-money laundering policies, did nothing to stem the tide of $20 bills in this time.
The commission has also heard of how casinos didn’t want players interviewed by BCLC and GPEB investigators, out of fear they would lose revenue, and how there was confusion among the agencies as to whether they could even do so. Lightbody couldn’t say definitively if his investigators were interviewing clients before 2015. And so until around 2016, these so-called whale gamblers escaped an important AML measure.
Lightbody said he worked hard to rectify miscommunications between agencies.
“In 2013 the AML unit was struck and put together. We began working with GPEB and law enforcement urging them to help us, you know, confirm whether or not there is proceeds of crime potentially coming into our casino,” he told the commission.
Lightbody noted that many players had been banned from casinos by BCLC by 2015, including notorious loan shark and Silver International associate Paul King Jin (who continued to provide cash to gamblers and even met with Gateway Casino officials about a land deal while banned, according to GPEB records).
But Lightbody also testified how there were alternative theories to the source of cash, at least before becoming aware of Silver International.
For some time BCLC and casinos thought it was good enough if the source of wealth was known.
For example, BCLC investigator Mike Hiller previously told the commission of a $460,000 buy-in with all $20 bills. Hiller said a River Rock Casino and Resort surveillance manager told him it wasn’t suspicious as the gambler was wealthy and played regularly.
McGowan raised one instance where a purported coal mine owner bought in with $994,000 worth of $20 bills in 2010.
“Well, he had enough wealth or whatever to gamble at this level. That’s what that explains,” said Terry Towns, heads of compliance and security until late 2012.
In that instance, GPEB and police informed BCLC about their concerns of proceeds of crime being gambled in casinos.
Lightbody and others frequently put forth that BCLC officials couldn’t outright prove the funds were proceeds of crime and so they could not decline the money. Only police can make such a determination, they said.
Asked whether these buy-ins during early morning hours raised suspicion, Towns told McGowan of all kinds of cash intensive businesses that could explain the money, “from underground banking, underground economy, renovation businesses, adult entertainment, jewelry.”
Towns said he didn’t judge the gamblers.
“Just didn’t turn your mind to it?” asked McGowan.
Towns alluded to another theory BCLC entertained for some time – that if gamblers were losing money they couldn’t have been part of a money laundering scheme.
“We had no basis to think that it was proceeds of crime,” Towns said. “The players were not in my mind criminals. They were gambling that money and are losing it, and if they weren’t losing, they weren’t given any cheques; they were given back cash. Unless there was a win on that initial buy-in, and then the cheque would be for that amount only.”
Of course, in such a scenario, one could gamble, say, $100,000 and win $100,000 and leave with a $100,000 cheque and the original $100,000 cash. The next day the same gambler could return and lose the same $100,000. In the end, the money is processed by the casino, which records no profit.
Lightbody denied he advanced this idea to his superiors in government.
BCLC and casinos rarely turned down suspicious transactions, the commission has heard from officials.
While Towns said these buy-ins were logged with GPEB, it is also known to the commission that for years casinos, such as River Rock, were not filing suspicious transaction reports for buy-ins under $50,000.
Towns said suspicion was not a sufficient basis to direct the casinos to decline the money.
Towns’ replacement in 2013 was Brad Desmarais.
Desmarais promoted a theory that the money was coming in from China, via the airport – despite the vast majority of cash seizures being U.S. denominations and the casino buy-ins being in Canadian currency.
Hiller noted in his affidavit he raised concern about the erroneous theory, but his words fell on deaf ears in 2013, he said.
At that time Desmarais had just been hired as head of compliance and security for BCLC. Hiller has accused Desmarais of downplaying the threat of money laundering.
The now chief operating officer of the lottery corporation had been briefed by GPEB about how losing gamblers needed to pay back their losses elsewhere, but Desmarais said he didn’t adopt such a view immediately.
Desmarais told the commission that upon taking the job at BCLC he wanted to first analyze the situation and all aspects, including money coming from overseas.
Latimer, however, noted that in May 2013, Desmarais disseminated a newsletter to BCLC staff titled ‘Money laundering in casinos? Not really.’
Desmarais put forth that Chinese cultural reasons can largely explain the cash play. He told Latimer in retrospect he could have communicated better and that he meant it wasn’t actual criminals coming into the casino to play.
In September 2013 Desmarais also wrote “Changing the Way We Look At Cash” wherein he stated “the large amounts of cash at casinos is often erroneously associated with organized crime.”
Suggestions by GPEB investigators to cap $20 bill buy-ins at $10,000 were never adopted, he said. Part of that reason is because GPEB never forced BCLC to do so, he said.
By late 2014 Desmarais had adopted the underground bank theory and told the government, he said.
Robert Kroeker replaced Desmarais in December 2015. Kroeker had come over from River Rock as the casino’s head of compliance and security.
Kroeker said while at River Rock he began tracking $20 bills at the suggestion of GPEB. He told the commission River Rock and its owner, Great Canadian Gaming Corp., were supportive of AML policies.
Kroeker told his lawyer, Marie Henein, under cross-examination that GPEB had the ability to limit cash buy-ins but didn’t. Henein noted to this date such a policy does not exist.
Desmarais, Kroeker and Lightbody touted a cash alternative program called a player gaming fund (PGF) account. But these accounts were voluntary and rarely used up to at least 2015, Lightbody conceded.
“Did the lack of voluntary participation in these apparently more convenient cash alternative programs tell you anything or cause you to have any concern about what the source of the $20 bills people were buying in with might be?” McGowan asked.
Lightbody replied that the PGF was not a “panacea” and that know-your-client measures to identify the source of wealth were key measures at that time. Kroeker told the commission that when he came to BCLC, it was doing source-of-funds inquiries on an “ad hoc basis.”
Lightbody spoke at length about risk-based and prescriptive approaches to AML policies, by which the former is used by BCLC.
Such tactics, whereby gambling officials use their discretion, brought about some confusion in 2016.
Then, the failure of cash alternatives such as PGF and prevalence of suspicious transactions prompted a letter from then Minister of Finance Mike De Jong, who called for “AML compliance best practices, including processes for evaluating the source of wealth and source of funds prior to cash acceptance.”
Subsequently, Lightbody interpreted this as not meaning all cash transactions.
“I was advised by Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland (De Jong’s deputy minister) that the minister didn’t mean all funds; he meant just keep doing it, you know, on your risk basis, so it’s not every single large cash transaction.”
The commission has skirted around the involvement of politicians in casino regulations. Next week, the commission will examine GPEB executives, and it is expected some former ministers in charge of casino regulations will be called to testify, such as past solicitor generals Rich Coleman, Shirley Bond and Kash Heed, plus De Jong. It’s not known if former premiers Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell could appear before the commission.
Current Attorney General David Eby could also testify, as his name has been raised several times, particularly by Kroeker, who was fired by Eby in 2018.
During testimony, Kroeker alleged Eby prevented BCLC from implementing a $25,000 cash cap in 2018 and muzzled BCLC staff in advance of consultant Peter German’s report, Dirty Money, which was critical of BCLC.
The commission is also set to hear about four weeks of testimony on money laundering via the real estate market.
The commission is scheduled to end in May, however because of the COVID-19 pandemic it could be extended. The hearings have often been interrupted and delayed due to technical difficulties.
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Gaming |
| Founded | 1992; 29 years ago |
| Headquarters | Burnaby, British Columbia |
| Products | Entertainment, Gambling, Food and Beverage, Hotel |
| Revenue | Over $200.0 million[citation needed] |
| 3,000 | |
| Website | gatewaycasinos.com |
Gateway Casinos and Entertainment is a Canadian gaming and entertainment operator. It operates 23 casinos in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. The corporate offices of Gateway Casinos and Entertainment are located in Burnaby, British Columbia. It is owned by The Catalyst Capital Group Inc., a private equity investment firm founded in 2002.[1]
History[edit]
Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited is one of the largest casino and entertainment companies in Western Canada and has grown from 2 facilities with 150 employees to 12 facilities with over 3,000 employees.
Properties include The Grand Villa Casino & Convention Centre Burnaby, Starlight Casino New Westminster, Cascades Resort Casino Langley, The Lake City Casinos (Vernon, Kamloops, Kelowna & Penticton) in the Okanagan, The Baccarat and Palace Casinos in Edmonton, the Chances Community Gaming Centres in Squamish, Mission, Kamloops and Newton Bingo in Surrey.
Starting in 1992, Gateway Casinos has provided operational services for casinos in the Greater Vancouver Regional District of British Columbia. In April 1992, Gateway Casinos acquired two casino operations in the Vancouver area: a 5,000 square foot facility on the second floor of the Mandarin Centre in Vancouver’s Chinatown and a smaller 4,000 square foot operation on the top floor of the Royal Towers Hotel in New Westminster, BC.
In March 1994, Gateway Casinos purchased a third casino, located in Maple Ridge, British Columbia with the intention of relocation in the future, which ultimately became Gateway’s Burnaby Casino.
June 1994 saw the Gateway relocation of the Vancouver casino from the small premises on the second floor of the Mandarin Centre to newly renovated premises in the same building. At this time, Mandarin Centre was the largest casino in British Columbia. In January 1996, Gateway Casinos relocated its operation in New Westminster from the top floor to expanded premises within the hotel.
Gateway Casinos ceased operating the casino in Maple Ridge in November 1996. The new operation was opened on the second floor of the parkade across from the now Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby, British Columbia.
November 1999 saw the Gateway acquisition of the Palace Casino (now Starlight Casino) in Edmonton, Alberta where an extensive renovation which more than doubled the size of the facility, was substantially completed in October 2001.
The year 2002 was pivotal for Gateway due to the acquisition of the Baccarat Casino in Edmonton, Alberta, in June[2] and the August purchase of the Lake City Casinos in Penticton, Kelowna, Kamloops and Vernon.
In May 2005 Gateway Casinos opened the Cascades Casino in the heart of Langley, British Columbia[3] which brought about a new era of gaming for the company, boasting over 60,000 square feet of gaming space, 77-room hotel and more than 25,000 square feet of convention space operated by Coast Hotels & Resorts Limited.
The Starlight Casino and Grand Villa Casino were opened in 2007 and 2008 respectively and are currently operating as Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited’s flagship properties.In 2011 Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited purchased three existing Community Gaming Centres located in Squamish, Mission and the Newton Surrey area. In April 2015 Gateway Casinos & Entertainment revealed its plans to build brand new casino located in the Edmonton Arena District.[4]
In December 2015 Gateway casinos bought Playtime Gaming Inc.[5] expanding their properties with 4 new CGC (community gaming centers) and 2 commercial bingo halls making them the largest casino company in British Columbia.
In December 2016, Gateway casinos purchased 11 Casinos from OLG in Ontario ranging from Thunder Bay to London with rights to build in Kenora and North Bay hereby now employing 6000+ people and making its way into the Ontario market.
In March 2018, Gateway was selected as the service provider for OLG's Central Gaming Bundle, which includes management of Casino Rama and slot operations at Georgian Downs, and the rights to build a new casino in Collingwood or Wasaga Beach.[6][7]
Casinos In Vancouver Bc
Properties[edit]
Western Canada
- Baccarat Casino (Edmonton) closed 2016
- Cascades Casino, Hotel and Convention Centre (Langley City)
- Grand Villa Casino (Burnaby)
- Grand Villa Casino Edmonton (Edmonton)
- Playtime Casino (Kelowna)
- Lake City Casinos
- Kamloops Casino (Kamloops)
- Penticton Casino (Penticton)
- Vernon Casino (Vernon)
- Starlight Casino former Palace Casino (Edmonton)
- Starlight Casino (New Westminster)
- Chances Mission (Mission)
- Chances Squamish (Squamish)
- Newton Community Gaming Centre (Surrey)
- Chances Abbotsford
- Chances Campbell River
- Chances Courtney
- Langley Bingo
- Chances Kamloops
Eastern Canada
- Thunder Bay
- Sudbury
- London
- Point Edward
- Woodstock
- Dresden closed
- Clinton
- Hanover
- Innisfil
- Chatham (opened 2019)
References[edit]
- ^'About Us'. Gateway Casinos and Entertainment.
- ^'Baccarat Casino to be replaced by upscale entertainment and gaming facility'. Edmonton Journal. April 14, 2015.
- ^'Cascades Casino Resort Celebrates its 10th Anniversary'. Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited. April 29, 2015.
- ^Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Plans a Premier Casino in the EAD
- ^'Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited Acquires Playtime Gaming'. newswire.ca. Dec 23, 2015.
- ^Ian Adams (March 15, 2018). 'OLG picks operator for casinos in Innisfil, Casino Rama'. Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^'OLG selects service provider for Central Gaming Bundle (Press release)'. Business Insider. March 15, 2018.