Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) says it has cancelled a “special employee” licence for a person that was linked to casino operations at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) gaming complex (pictured) amid lapses in due diligence that have landed the property’s operator a SGD2.25-million (US$1.68-million) fine.
The regulator confirmed in a Friday statement it had imposed financial penalties amounting to SGD2.25 million on Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd, the Genting Singapore Ltd unit running Resorts World Sentosa, “for failure to perform customer due diligence checks required under the Casino Control Act 2006 and the Casino Control (Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing) Regulations 2009”.
In apologising for the lapses, Genting Singapore said in a Friday filing that it took its compliance obligations “very seriously”. It added there was “no evidence of criminal offences nor money laundering and, hence, no police reports were made”.
The Gambling Regulatory Authority stated it had “cancelled the special employee licence for one of the employees involved in the breaches, and is conducting further investigations to assess the culpability of the other special employees involved”.
Singapore’s regulator said that in 2020 – under the former Casino Regulatory Authority structure – the city-state had asked Resorts World at Sentosa and also Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd, the Las Vegas Sands Corp unit running the other duopoly resort, Marina Bay Sands, to “conduct a review of certain patrons’ activities”.
Resorts World at Sentosa then discovered “non-compliances for some transactions” and reported them to the regulator.
The latter conducted further investigations “which revealed that between December 2016 and December 2019, Resorts World at Sentosa had failed to perform prescribed customer due diligence checks for certain transactions where Resorts World at Sentosa’s employees collected cash of SGD5,000 or more from third parties for purposes of depositing into the accounts” of patrons there.
When accepting these cash deposits, Resorts World at Sentosa “failed to establish the identity of the third party depositors”.
The Gambling Regulatory Authority added: “Resorts World at Sentosa did not record the requisite identifying information, nor did it verify these identities using reliable and independent sources as required” under the anti-money laundering and prevention of terrorism financing regulations for the city’s casino sector.
Genting Singapore said that it had “since taken remedial actions which included implementing technology enhancements to processes and intensifying employee training”.
The regulator noted that although Resorts World at Sentosa had an anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing framework and controls in existence at the time of the lapses, there had been “systemic failures in certain controls, resulting in failure to detect the non-compliances”.
The Gambling Regulatory Authority acknowledged that when Resorts World at Sentosa did detect the problem, it took “prompt action to improve its processes and engaged an independent party to review… standard operating procedures”.
The regulator added: “Resorts World at Sentosa has also undertaken a review of its corporate culture, with a view to strengthening its internal controls and corporate governance.”
But the authority’s statement also noted it “takes a serious view of such lapses and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against errant casino operators”.
Genting Singapore noted in its filing that the fine imposition “would not have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets and earnings per share of the group” for the financial year ending December 31.
