Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says the city is no longer interested in hosting a downtown casino. Photo courtesy victoria.ca.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps says money laundering and potential trafficking of fentanyl has changed the city’s willingness to host a casino.
In a letter for the committee of the whole meeting this Thursday, Helps says the city is recommending a letter to the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) to indicate Victoria is “no longer interested in hosting a casino.”
The city passed a motion in 2015 to express interest in opening a casino in response to a BCLC’s Request of Expressions of Interest.
But Helps says new information has changed the city’s mind on hosting a gambling venue.
“Since 2015, there have been substantial issues uncovered with regard to money laundering in BC casinos as well as potential links to the trafficking of fentanyl,” Helps said in the letter.
“The BC government is taking the issue seriously and is taking significant action to remedy this situation. Nonetheless, prosecution of these offences is difficult. This new information that has arisen since Council’s motion in 2015 has changed the landscape with regard to Victoria’s willingness to host a casino.”
In June, the provincial government released an independent report called “Dirty Money” that said criminals laundered at least $100 million through B.C.’s casino system.
The 247-page report was authored by Paul German, a 31-year veteran of the RCMP and while it focused on the Lower Mainland, money laundering was found throughout the province, including the nine casinos on Vancouver Island.
Attorney General David Eby also connected the money-laundering operations to the opioid crisis and to driving people out of communities because skyrocketing housing prices.
In releasing the report and surveillance video showing multiple examples of money laundering, Eby said province had begun to implement the 48 recommendations made in the report to end the flow of laundered cash into B.C.’s casinos.
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