There has been a hike in the number of people who have been banned from United States casinos according to a recent U.S. gaming industry report.
In a statement, A.G. Burnett, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman said,
Definitely in the last four years we’ve seen what I would consider a bit of an uptick in individuals that we put on the Excluded Persons List (commonly referred to as the Black Book). We’ve probably included 25 percent more individuals on the Excluded Person List in the last four years than in the last 12.
The report was released by the Financial Action Task Force (FAFF), an international body that assesses efforts made by countries to deal with money laundering. According to FATF there has been a rise in the number of customer relationships that have been terminated since its last report in 2006.
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA) the number of patron relationships that were terminated in 2014 due to money laundering issues was 23 times higher than what was seen in 2011. Elizabeth Cronan, senior director of gaming policy at the association observed that the industry was keen to limit any illegal activity at their properties, adding that the gaming industry was based on integrity.
She also acknowledged that the casino operators had improved cooperation with law enforcement over money laundering. The report noted that the gaming industry was taking significant steps to clampdown on money laundering including increased compliance spends and installing mitigating measures over and above those mandated by law.
Cronan pointed out that casinos play an important role as they have access to information that may not be available to law enforcement authorities otherwise. She added that the casino were constantly working on strengthening their relationship with the authorities. The report has highlighted the increase in the number of Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filings by casinos. According to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), SARs have gone up by 60 percent between 2013 and 2014. A SAR needs to be filed by the casino when the management suspects money laundering in any transaction and also when a customer makes transactions worth over $10,000 in a single day.
Burnett stated that nearly 100 percent of all licensed gaming operations in the country had in place a good surveillance system in addition to other requirements demanded by state governments.
This year’s positive remarks come after the 2006 report which had recommended that casinos take further steps to improve customer identification systems, suspicious transaction reporting and better monitoring for money laundering activities.
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