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But River Rock’s long-time VIP/high-limit gambling architect Walter Soo previously told the commission he was observing “geopolitical” factors in and around 2012 that could lead more wealthy Chinese gamblers to Vancouver. These included a U.S. crackdown on money laundering in Macau-connected Las Vegas casinos, Chinese president Xi Jinping’s 2013 anti-corruption/political purge campaign, China’s capital flight restrictions and Canada’s investor immigrant program targeting China’s elites. Commission counsel Kyle McCleery read a Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (GCGC) report from Soo stating, “[People’s Republic of China] VIPs will encounter more restrictions to access funds for gaming in Macau and Las Vegas reducing their desire to frequent these destinations and diverting their play to River Rock Casino.”
The ‘Cullen Commission’ of inquiry into money laundering in B.C. heard from Doug Scott, manager of the Gaming Police and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) between 2011 and 2013, lower right. Justice Austin Cullen, top, is the commissioner, who is assisted by lead counsel Patrick McGowan, bottom left Photograph By Cullen Commission An ex-RCMP officer turned manager of gambling regulations for the B.C. government says he had lost confidence in the federal police organization to effectively tackle financial crime such as money laundering occurring in the province’s casinos. “I left [the RCMP] with my belief there was no capacity in the RCMP, specifically in financial crime, or proceeds of crime, that would be able to garner the attention to have an investigation done,” Doug Scott, manager of the Gaming Police and Enforcement Branch (GPEB) between 2011 and 2013, told the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C
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 CEO and president of Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (TSX:GC) has resigned from his job after he and his wife were accused of travelling from B.C. to the Yukon to jump the coronavirus vaccination . . .