SkyCity Adelaide Casino facing problems

Bad times for the largest casinos in are having tough times lately. Last month the Crown Casino Melbourne and the Star Casino in Sydney lost their Casino license due to a lack of fighting money-laundering. Now it is SkyCity Adelaide who are facing Australia´s financial watchdog AUSTRAC regarding sort like problems.

SkyCity is a casino in Adelaide where there´s room for several gambling games such as pokies, Poker and table games such as blackjack. It has 90 gaming tables and over 950 gaming machines. SkyCity also has several restaurant and bars. Which makes it an important and large entertainment venue in Adelaide City centre.

AUSTRAC CEO Peter Soros about their lastest investigation into the SkyCity Casino: “AUSTRAC’s investigation identified a range of circumstances where SkyCity failed to carry out appropriate ongoing customer due diligence, SkyCity also failed to develop and maintain a compliant AML/CTF program, leaving it at risk of criminal exploitation.”

Based on the investigation ASTRAC alleges that SkyCity:

• Failed to asses money laundering in an appropriate way.
• Did not apply risk-based systems appropriately.
• Did not have a transaction monitoring program in order to monitor suspicious transactions.
• Did not do checks on higher risk customers
• No appropriate due diligence on customers with high money laundering risks

Peter Soros made the following statement: “The requirement for regulated entities to have appropriate AML/CTF controls and systems in place is not optional and should be taken seriously by all businesses regulated by AUSTRAC.

AUSTRAC continues to work with SkyCity to ensure it complies with its obligations under the AML/CTF Act and to ensure it continues to meet its obligations in the future.”

This is the third civil penalty proceeding AUSTRAC has brought against businesses operating in the casino sector. It should serve as a warning to casinos and all other businesses regulated by AUSTRAC to take their AML/CTF obligations seriously and comply with the AML/CTF Act and AML/CTF Rules.”