MGM Mirage rapped by Nevada Gaming Board
By paul
The anti-online gambling lobby take note: Land based casinos are more
likely to violate anti-money laundering regulations. At least, that's
the way things seem in light of a two-month investigation by the
Nevada Gaming Control board that revealed widespread and serious
violations of state anti-money laundering regulations by The Mirage.
The investigation, completed Tuesday, found that almost 15,000
required reports went unfiled over a period of 18 months, Control
Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said.
However, Neilander said the investigation showed no criminal actions
by the resort.
'As a result of our investigation it doesn't appear that there was
any money-laundering activities,' Neilander said.
However, Neilander said the incidents must be taken very seriously by
state regulators because of the amount of unfiled reports, the time
period over which the failures to file took place, the number of
individuals who knew about the problem and took no action, and the
failure of internal auditing procedures to catch the infractions.
The fine for failing to submit the reports is $25,000 per count, but
Neilander declined to comment Tuesday on what kind of fine or other
action may be taken against MGM Mirage, which owns The Mirage.
Industry insiders have said it is unlikely the state will impose the
maximum total fine of $375 million. The Mirage's annual cash flow in
2002 was $152 million.
Meanwhile, online casinos are being hounded by anti-gambling zealots
in Washington on the grounds that online gambling transactions are a
conduit for money laundering. The US Patriot act has been invoked
against PayPal on such grounds, depriving online casinos of a popular
method of transacting wagers.