Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) has fined Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) S$2.25 million ($1.67 million/€1.55 million) for breaches of the Casino Control Act 2006 and the Casino Control Regulations 2009 which covers ani-money laundering (AML) and the prevention of terrorist financing.
According to the GRA announcement, the company had failed to carry out appropriate customer due diligence checks between December 2016 and December 2019. These included several instances where employees at the casino failed to follow the correct protocols when accepting sums of S$5,000 ($3,720/€3,456) or more from third parties which were deposited into accounts of RWS customers.
The breaches were uncovered by RWS after the GRA had requested that both RWS and Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd carry out a review of specific customers’ activities. The review revealed that staff had failed to verify the identity of the third parties involved as required by anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations.
The GRA also found that while RWS had the required framework and protocols in place to ensure source of funds and third party identities were verified, these were not followed. However, the GRA also noted that RWS took prompt action to improve its processes and will now conduct a review of its corporate culture to ensure that internal controls and corporate governance measures are strengthened.
As a result of the investigation, the GRA has fined RWS and cancelled the special employee license for one of the employees involved in the breaches. It will now conduct further investigations to assess the culpability of any other employees involved.
Third Fine for RWS in a Year
In September, the GRA released its annual report for 2022-23 listing all regulatory actions taken during the period.
The report states that RWS was issued two breach notices both of which related to due diligence measures. In the first instance, RWS failed to perform customer due diligence measures in breach of Regulation 13(2) of the Casino Control (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Regulations 2009, and was fined SG$20,000 ($14,600/€13,249).
The second case was for a similar due diligence failure that breached Regulation 14(1A)(a) and (c). This resulted in a fine of SG$75,000 ($54,800/€51,826).
So far in 2023, gambling regulators across the globe have issued a total of $435,823,523 (€405,060,729/£347,280,831) in fines and penalties. This represents a 42.17% increase on the total figure for 2022.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.