The Hongcouver | BC casinos court China's high-rollers, but it's realtors who gamble with money launderers

When the head of British Columbia’s Lottery Corporation went on the record last month with the crown corporation’s strategy of targeting mainly-Chinese high rollers, playing up to C$100,000 (HK$625,000) per hand, all sorts of alarm bells went off in my head.

Surely, I thought, such a strategy posed a significant risk of courting money launderers seeking to disguise ill-gotten gains, or others illegally dodging China’s US$50,000 (HK$388,000) annual  cash-export limit? And surely Macau – which is currently undergoing a major upheaval as China cracks down on corruption and dodgy capital flight – presents a salutary lesson about the perils of such a strategy?

I turned to anti-money laundering expert Christine Duhaime, a barrister whose practice specialises in such matters and offers advice to governments, corporations (including casinos) and wealthy individuals alike.

It turns out that Duhaime thinks I’m worrying about the wrong kind of casino: It’s the luxury real estate market in Metro Vancouver and Toronto that she’s concerned about.

Duhaime said high-rollers in Canadian casinos (unlike Macau) presented “no real risks” of money laundering. “Casinos in Canada are the most regulated business sector in the country. Casinos have vetted high rollers in advance in terms of identity and those clients are well-known to them,” she said.