In an industry full of glitz, glamor and excitement, anti-money laundering (AML) compliance could easily be overshadowed. Yet the actions we take and the investments we make in this area have serious ramifications for your company’s bottom line, its ability to expand and its working relationship with banks.
Today, I’m proud to share news that the authoritative international organization that grades the strength of each country’s financial system, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), praised the tremendous work of casino gaming companies in their once-per-decade analysis.
For the next ten years, those who hold the future of our industry in their hands will have positive information about our industry’s dedication to preventing money laundering and playing our part in protecting the nation’s financial system. Report readers will discover that the industry “has a good understanding of risks and obligations,” puts in place “mitigating measures above the requirements” of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and has shown “an increased focus on raising awareness and improving compliance.” You can read the report here.
It’s no accident that FATF’s evaluation of the casino gaming industry greatly improved from 2006 to 2016. In advance of the FATF evaluation, gaming companies took aggressive action to improve AML compliance, and AGA demonstrated these improvements through a groundbreaking report earlier this year, which found:
Further, in 2014, AGA released a first-ever Best Practices for AML Compliance, which it updates annually. FATF praised both reports by name in its evaluation. “AGA works to assist the sector by putting out useful best practices guidance. The recent study on Investing in America’s Financial Security: Casinos’ Commitment to Anti-Money Laundering Compliance commissioned by the AGA provides a good picture of the understanding of the casino sector and the mitigating measures they have put in place.”
We’re proud of the incredible strides the industry has taken not only since FATF’s report of the gaming industry ten years ago, but in the last three years as we’ve built a partnership with the federal government that serves as a model for other industries. The praise in this report would not have been possible without the strong commitment to a culture of compliance from you and your colleagues, and it will pay dividends in many unexpected ways over the next ten years.
