The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) continues to penalize notable Canadian gaming operators for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and compliance laws.
After fining a temporary charity casino in Ontario and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) in recent weeks, FINTRAC announced on Sept. 12 that it has fined the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) $1.175 million for three supposed incidents of non-compliance.
SIGA is a non-profit First Nations organization that runs seven Indian casinos in Saskatchewan, including Bear Claw Casino & Hotel, Dakota Dunes Casino and Gold Eagle Casino. It also operates the province’s only regulated and authorized online gaming website, PlayNow.com.
In accordance with Saskatchewan’s gaming model, all of SIGA’s net revenue is reinvested. Half of it is distributed to the 74 First Nations in the province, another 25% is forwarded to Community Development Corporations (CDCs) for local community initiatives and the remaining quarter goes to the province’s General Revenue Fund. In the 2024-25 fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, SIGA posted an annual record of $378 million in gross revenue and a new all-time high of $146 million in net income.
What does FINTRAC allege?
In a public statement posted on Friday, FINTRAC said that a compliance examination unearthed three violations of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA) and associated regulations via the following:
- Violation No. 1: Failure to submit suspicious transaction reports despite reasonable grounds to do so
- Violation No. 2: Failure to report suspicious transactions with the prescribed information
- Violation No. 3: Failure to develop and apply adequate written compliance and risk-assessment policies and procedures
Violation No. 1, which FINTRAC categorized as a “Very Serious” violation, constituted a failure to file four suspicious transaction reports, said the organization. FINTRAC alleged that SIGA ignored multiple indicators of suspicious activity that met the threshold for reasonable grounds to report suspicious transactions. Those included a level or volume of transactions that was inconsistent with the client’s apparent financial standing or their usual pattern of activities, and transactions involving people identified by the media, law enforcement and/or intelligence agencies as being linked to criminal activities.
The other two violations, classified as “Serious,” involved three supposed instances of SIGA not including money laundering or terrorist financing indicators in suspicious transactions reports that it submitted, and an alleged failure to “properly assess the risk for all of its patrons.”
“Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime is in place to protect the safety of Canadians and the security of Canada’s economy,” said FINTRAC CEO and Director Sarah Paquet in a release. “FINTRAC works with businesses to help them understand and comply with their obligations under the Act. We are also firm in ensuring that businesses continue to do their part and we will take appropriate actions when they are needed.”
SIGA joins BCLC in appealing FINTRAC fine in court
Like BCLC before it, SIGA vowed in a statement posted later on Friday to fight the FINTRAC fine in federal court, stressing that no criminal activity or money laundering was found at SIG casinos and rejecting FINTRAC’s findings.
“It should be noted that the penalty is based on administrative reporting requirements only. There is no money laundering, terrorist financing, or other financial crimes at SIGA’s properties,” stated SIGA. “SIGA has a compliance program which is routinely audited by FINTRAC. SIGA does not agree with the violations found by FINTRAC, nor does it agree with the administrative penalties assessed. SIGA will be appealing both the finding of violations and the penalties assessed to the Federal Court.”
The fine is the latest in a flurry of increased enforcement activity from FINTRAC, multiple counts of which are being appealed by the alleged offending parties.
The temporary, non-profit Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) casino, which runs for just a few weeks each summer at the Toronto-area event, is contesting a fine of almost $200,000 for allegedly failing to conduct either an adequate risk assessment procedure or a biannual review of its compliance program. CNE Casino denied committing any PCMLTFA violation and pointed to a lack of criminal activity, alleging erroneous FINTRAC actions and conclusions.
And BCLC has also taken FINTRAC and Canada’s Attorney General to court, claiming it was “ambushed” by the financial watchdog before being fined $1 million for multiple alleged AML violations. The B.C. lottery’s representatives wrote that the related examination by FINTRAC was “conducted without proper notice to BCLC and contrary to FINTRAC’s established examination procedures” and argued that the crown corp. was not given adequate opportunity to comply with FINTRAC demands.
