Tough guardrails

Casino Gaming Commission (CGC) Chief Executive Officer Cleveland Allen (second left) gestures while speaking at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange. Flanking him are CGC executives (from left) Caleigh Reid, legal officer; Damion McKenzie, senior director, investigations and enforcement; and Shainee Myles, director of human resource. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) WITH Jamaica’s first licensed casino operator set to commence operations by March next year, once all outstanding conditions are met, the Casino Gaming Commission (CGC) is assuring that stringent guardrails are in place to keep criminal elements out, with operators required to verify players, monitor suspicious transactions, and protect vulnerable gamblers. Speaking during this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, both CGC Chief Executive Officer Cleveland Allen and Senior Director of Enforcement and Investigation Damion McKenzie outlined a multi-layered system of checks that will follow casino operations from the moment a player registers to the regulator’s ongoing monitoring of the business. The safeguards include know-your-customer (KYC) checks, scrutiny of suspicious transactions and sources of wealth, anti-money laundering controls, surveillance systems, responsible-gaming interventions, and direct regulatory access to the casino’s operations. The officials were speaking as Adamas Grand Casino Limited, Jamaica’s first licensed casino operator, moves towards opening at Princess Grand Jamaica Resort in Green Island, Hanover. The CGC granted the operator its licence on July 29, but the licence is conditional and does not yet authorise the casino to begin operations. CGC Legal Officer Caleigh Reid said the operator must first satisfy all remaining requirements, with March 31, 2027 set as the deadline to commence operations. “They have a specific time frame in which to open. There are certain deliverables that they have to satisfy us with, certain things that they have to provide us with before they get the go-ahead. Right now they have the licence, but they are not authorised to begin operations until all of those other deliverables are satisfied, which is all outlined in their conditions of licence,” she said. The safeguards are intended to address several risks associated with casino gaming, particularly money laundering, organised crime, problem gambling, and the potential exploitation of vulnerable players. At the heart of the CGC’s financial crime controls will be requirements for casinos to know who their customers are and to scrutinise the money moving through their operations. According to McKenzie, the regulator will not simply assess an operator’s anti-money laundering system once and walk away. “A part of our legislation requires us to do ongoing monitoring as it relates to money laundering and proceeds from illicit means. We will continue to monitor, but the training that we provided to our officers… allow them to understand the different typologies that are related to money laundering in the gaming sector, to understand the myriad things that happen that can be classified as money laundering,” McKenzie said. The commission will also examine whether an operator has properly carried out those checks and whether the financial profile of a player makes sense. “Our audit plan also allows us to go in and check on persons who have signed up, if you did the proper KYC and anti-money laundering check against this person: What does this person do? How did they come about the cash? The source of wealth? So all those checks continue throughout the lifecycle of the licence,” McKenzie added. Furthermore, Allen noted that the commission is designated as the competent authority for casino gaming under the Proceeds of Crime Act, with responsibility for anti-money laundering, counter-financing of terrorism and counter-proliferation financing compliance in the casino sector. He explained that casino gaming in Jamaica is restricted to approved Integrated Resort Developments, meaning a casino cannot operate as a stand-alone gambling establishment. Therefore, this creates a two-stage screening process. “At the first stage of the development of it, the Government wants to be satisfied that the operators, the financiers, their funding is from good sources, they have good standing in other jurisdictions, not just for the development but for the operations of the casino… and when you come to stage two, when you come to us, we then conduct our own due diligence, specifically in respect to the conduct and operations of a casino,” Allen said. He also noted operators will be required to maintain surveillance systems capable of supporting regulatory monitoring, as well as provide space for commission officers at the premises. “In Las Vegas, on any one casino property, there are about 5,000 cameras. These cameras can zoom in and read the serial number on a note at a table four miles down the road. We have similar surveillance and monitoring requirements for the casino. More than that, the operator is required to have facilities on its premises for the commission and our officers to be able to have access to and at any time go on site and monitor,” Allen said. The CGC’s guardrails are not limited to criminal activity. Allen explained that the regulator’s responsible-gaming framework is designed to identify people who may be developing harmful gambling habits and provide avenues for intervention. That framework includes staff training, player information, behaviour monitoring, exclusion and self-exclusion mechanisms, as well as controls on advertising. The commission has worked with the Responsible Gaming Council of Ontario and signed an MOU with RISE Life Management, which has experience in counselling and self-exclusion relating to gambling. “The mechanism behind responsible gaming is that the staff will be trained to spot persons who have a problem, persons who sit all day and gamble. There’s some form of intervention from the staff to allow some kind of cooling-out period for this individual. Also, because Jamaica will be a cashless system, they’ll also be able to track the pattern of a player to see his betting patterns and some form of intervention can be implemented because of that pattern of constant gambling, constant topping up, constant chasing, constant losses,” he added. Allen also assured that responsible-gaming controls will extend to how casinos advertise and promote their services. He said advertisements should not target children or young people and should not rely on influential figures who children might look up to. He also noted that the CGC intends to leverage existing responsible-gambling programmes, including initiatives involving schools, while keeping casino-related promotion within the resort environment.