Ontario’s gambling agency needs to double down on efforts to curb money laundering, says the auditor general.

In her annual report to the legislature Wednesday, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said “reporting of suspicious transactions is low and varies among casinos” overseen by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

As first revealed by the Star, Lysyk hired “mystery shoppers” for a sting operation at four unnamed Ontario casinos to test anti-money laundering measures.

“Casinos could … improve their anti-money laundering enforcement. As part of the audit, mystery shoppers tested how easy it was to launder money and they were able to obtain casino cheques with large amounts of cash, without anyone confirming where the money came from,” she said in a news release.