- The Rideau Carleton Raceway has been fined $227,250 (CAD) for alleged violations of gambling regulations.
- These violations did not involve the integrity of their slot machines, but instead their internal issues.
- The Raceway allegedly advertised to people on the self-exclusion list, and did not have proper money laundering protections in place.
TORONTO – Rideau Carleton Raceway has been fined over 36 separate violations that arose after an audit of their slot machines.
The cost of the fines totals $227,250 (CAD), and they were levied against HR Ottawa LP, the company that runs the slots at Rideau Carleton.
These slots are licensed from the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, which features regulations in exchange for the usage of their license.
These regulations are somewhat strenuous – and seem to have been too strenuous for the Rideau to fully comply with.
Two notable issues that the audit brought up were in relation to common problems for casinos, advertising and money laundering.
Rideau Carleton Raceway – Unlawful Advertising?
The Rideau Carlton is alleged to have “provided advertising and marketing materials to individuals who had self-excluded from gambling activities.”
Self-exclusion lists are an important part of the gambling ecosystem, a program aimed at preventing problem gamblers from regressing.
Violating self-exclusion lists to advertise undermines the entire purpose of the list, and governments the world over take violations of this nature very seriously.
Rideau Carleton Raceway – Money Laundering Hub?
In addition to the failures to properly implement the self-exclusion list, the raceway also allegedly “repeatedly failed to implement, follow, and enforce required anti-money laundering policies and procedures.”
Money laundering is a huge problem at casinos, and while the casinos themselves don’t particularly care, governments do, and most locales have money laundering regulations that must be followed.
In this case, it seems these guidelines were repeatedly ignored, even after the audit, which also alleges that the Rideau “failed to address matters of concern identified by internal auditors in a timely manner.”