U.S. Casino Association To Assess Industry Compliance
The casino industry in the United States is a billion dollar industry and is second only to Macau. The American Gaming Association (AGA) has been paying a lot of attention to the regulations that govern the casino industry and has recently decided to commission a special team who will conduct an in-depth study into the casino industry.
Wherever there are huge amounts of cash being traded, there are bound to be risks as criminals look to exploit every possible loophole to carry out illegal activities. Authorities in the U.S. have been concerned that organized gangs are using casinos to conduct money laundering activities. The intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will conduct an analysis to determine the vulnerability of casinos and the risk they are exposed to.
The AGA has asked independent firms to send in their request for proposal (RFP) and the same will be reviewed by the Risk & Compliance Journal. Geoff Freeman, chief executive of the AGA stated that they wanted this assessment to be carried out to be proactive and to determine what measures casinos are taking to protect themselves from criminal activity and the systems they employ to thwart all money laundering activity.
FATF had issued instructions back in 2006 asking the U.S government to request casinos to tighten their security policies in order to prevent money laundering. One of the suggestions provided was to have casinos follow the same procedure that U.S banks use to know their customer. Casinos were asked to not only check the customer’s identity but collect basic background information that would help casinos understand their customers better.
The AGA has stated that they will review proposals and then decide on finalizing the auditor who will be responsible for this project. The auditor will be responsible for calculating the total amount of resources that the gaming industry allots to compliance, which will include a detailed estimate of total employee and financial resources; provide the AGA with a comparative analysis of revenues generated by all financial institutions and what percentage is being allotted to the compliance of resources and staff.
A number of casinos in the United States have been under investigation due to money laundering accusations. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imposed a record $75 million dollar fine to the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino in June as well as a $10 million dollar fine on the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Jan 2015 for not complying with anti-money laundering laws.
