By Chad Skelton, Postmedia News August 11, 2010

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/canada/Money+laundering+thrives+casinos+Report/3389610/story.html

Money laundering by organized crime groups is rampant at Canadian casinos but police are essentially doing nothing to combat it, according to an internal RCMP report.

"Since 2003, FINTRAC (the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) has sent several disclosure reports to the RCMP on suspicious transactions involving casinos throughout Canada, with amounts totalling over $40 million," the 2009 report states.

"Anecdotally, police managers have suggested that, because of other priorities and a lack of resources, at this time, nothing is being done to investigate these situations."

Sgt. Dave Gray, of the B.C. RCMP's integrated proceeds of crime unit, acknowledged Wednesday that not a single person has been charged with money laundering at B.C.'s casinos in recent memory.

"If we had more resources, then we could perhaps set broader priorities or conduct more investigations," he said in an interview.

"That goes without saying. We could definitely use more resources."

However, Gray said the lack of casino-related charges is also due to police focusing on more "target-rich" areas -- such as currency seizures at the border -- where it is easier to prove criminal intent.

The internal RCMP report, obtained by the Vancouver Sun through the Access to Information Act, states "organized crime is prevalent in casinos at several levels," including money laundering and loansharking, and that casinos provide several opportunities for criminals to make illegally earned cash appear legitimate.

For example, criminals have been known to approach people after a big win and offer to buy their casino cheque for 105% of its face value.

The internal RCMP report notes many casinos now have self-serve kiosks where patrons can exchange winning tickets for cash, allowing launderers to operate without having to deal with a human cashier.