Casino News Today

The B.C. Lottery Corporation will begin reporting all suspicious money transactions at casinos to federal authorities, Solicitor-General John van Dongen said Wedneday.

In the past, the agency submitted only those cases that it believed involved actual money laundering to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. Cases such as those involving counterfeit bills were left out.

Van Dongen said the corporation has its own money-laundering experts who reviewed the reports before deciding which ones to send to the federal agency, which tracks money laundering.

“The B.C. Lottery Corporation was following a procedure that they felt reflected FINTRAC’s needs,” he said. “They were doing that with the approval of FINTRAC.”

But van Dongen has asked the corporation to improve transparency by giving federal officials every report of suspicious money transactions at a casino.

The announcement follows media reports last week that B.C. casino workers routinely observe dozens of suspicious transactions, but only a fraction get reported to the federal agency that tracks money laundering.

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Asking casino employees to perform law enforcement duties is ludicrous.

Casino in West Virginia and Colorado may be made responsible for collecting payments from deadbeat dads that play at their facilities. Both states are expected to enact plans which will effectively garnish big winnings from gamblers who are behind on child support payments.

The two states are adding this new method of collection to several other systems designed to prevent those who try to avoid paying court-ordered child support from absconding with cash they have hidden from the courts.

West Virginia will begin using their new plan within ninety days, while Colorado is expected to start July 1st.

One Colorado legislator asserted that banks, mortgage lenders, and the like are required to perform records searches to stop parents behind in child support from using money for other purposes, and the casino industry must bear their share of the burden. Representative Joel Judd said, “It just seemed to me that if a guy owes back child support and wins big, the kids ought to get the money.” 

Casino officials pointed out that it is problematic establishing which players might be winners. A gambler might buy $5000 in chips, cash in $2000, and look like a winner, even though he was a $3000 loser.

Casinos are required to keep records of payouts bigger than $600 on most bets, and over $1200 on slots for the IRS. But table players are on their own recognizance.

Most alarmingly, the states expect the casinos to do the collecting. Asking casino employees to perform law enforcement duties is ludicrous. Notifying authorities of tracked winnings is debatable; no reasonable person could expect the casino staff to act as sheriffs as well.

Colorado’s actions are enforced by a law recently passed, but West Virginia is hoping the casinos voluntarily go along, as there is no authority to force them to comply. Here’s hoping Colorado finds its law unenforceable and soon withdrawn, while West Virginia casino management must resist being forced into such an untenable position.

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Kansas -Penn National Gaming would give the state 25 percent of all casino revenue up to $250 million, the Kansas Lottery said Wednesday.

Information the lottery released Tuesday incorrectly summarized the revenue distribution in Penn National’s contract.

State law requires casino managers to share at least 22 percent of casino revenue with the state.

Penn National, which proposes a casino for the Wellington exit on the Kansas Turnpike in Sumner County, would give the state 25 percent up to $250 million, 27 percent from $250 million to $300 million, and 32 percent above $300 million.

Marvel Gaming, another Wellington applicant, would share 22 percent with the state up to $250 million, 27 percent from $250 million to $300 million, and 32 percent above $300 million.

Harrah’s Entertainment-Sumner Gaming, an applicant for a casino near the Mulvane turnpike exit, would give the state 22 percent up to $300 million, 24 percent from $300 million to $350 million, 26 percent from $350 million to $400 million, 28 percent from $400 million to $500 million, and 30 percent above $500 million.

All three signed contracts Tuesday with the lottery. A review board will select a winner in August.

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PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) - French supermarket group Casino (CASP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday that at this stage sales in France had shown no “sigificant difference” from the trend seen in the first quarter of 2008.

Chief Executive Jean-Charles Naouri also told the annual shareholders meeting that Casino had no plans to change its partnership with Galeries Lafayette and retailer Monoprix in the coming few years.

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