Image Credit: Shutterstock January 29, 2021 - 7:30 AM More than 10 months after closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still no sign of an opening date for British Columbia casino operations. The B.C. Ministry of Finance says casinos have submitted safety plans which have been reviewed by Worksafe BC and the provincial health office. Conversations on when and how casinos might reopen are ongoing, but no firm date for reopening has been set. The ministry said they are also currently exploring options for improving support for casinos “alongside other priorities. According to the most recent figures available in British Columbia Lottery Corporation’s 2019/2020 Annual Service Plan Report, in fiscal 2019/20, (March 31, 2019 to March, 31, 2020) the lottery corporation generated $1.347 billion in net income, $59 million below budget and $69 million less than the previous year.
B.C. Lottery Corp. CEO blown away by police report of organized crime at casinos
Commissioner Austin Cullen listens to introductions before opening statements at the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia, in Vancouver, on February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck January 28, 2021 - 4:36 PM
VANCOUVER - The president of the British Columbia Lottery Corp. says the first time he officially heard organized crime groups were laundering money at provincial casinos was six years ago during a meeting with the RCMP.
Up until the 2015 police briefing, there had long been concerns about suspicious cash circulating at casinos but the RCMP report confirmed it, Jim Lightbody told an inquiry into money laundering on Thursday.
That was a pivotal moment for us because we had now heard from the RCMP . that there are proceeds of crime being used through a money service business in Richmond, Lightbody said. That alarmed me greatly. I was blown away.
Lightbody testified the report prompted the lottery corporation to step up its anti-money laundering efforts in 2015, which included requiring some players to disclose the source of their cash and banning others from the facilities outright. We were all shocked at this, he said. We said, We ve got to do something about this.
The lottery corporation which has a mandate to manage and safeguard casinos implemented a policy in 2018 saying players wanting to buy in at a casino with $10,000 or more in cash must prove where the money came from.
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A turning point for the industry?
27th January 2021
| By Joanne Christie
The past week has seen three women appointed to chief executive roles in the gambling industry. Joanne Christie investigates whether this is a happy coincidence or a sign of broader change on the gender diversity front.
When news of Entain’s appointment of Jette Nygaard-Andersen as its new chief executive broke last week, almost every mainstream press report contained the word ‘female’ in the headline.
Some would question why news reports needed to mention her gender at all. After all, how often do headlines note that a newly appointed chief exec is male?