The Ville, Mindil Beach casino resorts flagged as organised crime risks

A Queensland casino is one of two major regional venues at high risk of becoming a hotbed for money laundering and underworld crime, a regulator has warned.

Austrac has instructed The Ville Resort-Casino in Townsville and Mindil Beach Casino Resort in Darwin to appoint external auditors to assess their AML/CTF compliance. Picture: Evan Morgan

A major north Queensland casino is at high risk of becoming a hotbed for money-laundering and underworld crime a government financial regulator has warned.

Townsville’s The Ville Resort-Casino — as well as Darwin’s Mindil Beach Casino Resort — have now been ordered by watchdog Austrac to hire independent auditors to rein in regulation weak spots or face stiff penalties.

Operators of both casinos have vowed to fully co-operate with Austrac’s demands.

Austrac — Australia’s finance intelligence agency — revealed it had found potential gaps and deficiencies in the money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls of both casinos.

If left unchecked, would make those casinos susceptible to money laundering — which allows criminals to profit from heinous crimes.

The watchdog’s chief executive Brendan Thomas said the northern casinos may be smaller than major players in the capital cities like Star, or Crown Resorts, but they still faced heightened risk of exploitation criminals.

“We have concerns about how well The Ville and Mindil Beach casinos have been considering risks of their customers and then their responses to those risks, their monitoring of those customers, their reporting of suspicious activity and the businesses’ consideration of how they will manage the relationship with a customer,” he said.

“These independent audits will provide us with detail we need to understand their level of compliance with Australian anti-money-laundering laws.

“Once completed, Austrac will then consider what further action we will take.”

Mr Thomas also put chief executives of other gambling businesses, including pubs and clubs with gaming machines on notice, warning failure to comply with Australian money laundering laws could result in further action.

Mindil Beach Casino Resort. Photo: supplied

“Austrac is serious about driving illicit money out of the gambling industry in Australia and making sure businesses that facilitate gambling have strong money laundering controls,” he said.

“This action follows major actions we have taken against other casinos, Crown Resorts, Sky City, and The Star and online bookmakers, Entain, Sportsbet and Bet365.”

It is understood both casinos will be able to continue to operate while the audit is undertaken and Austrac will assess whether any further regulatory action is required based on the outcomes of the audits.

Breakwater Island Ltd, which operates The Ville, was previously charged with flouting Queensland’s gambling regulations — but those allegations were thrown out of court last year.

A spokeswoman for The Ville Resort-Casino confirmed the business would fully co-operate with Austrac’s request.

“The Ville Resort–Casino takes its obligations as a responsible casino operator incredibly seriously, particularly in relation to its key responsibilities in detecting and preventing financial crime in our community,” she said.

“The Ville has a comprehensive program in place to manage and mitigate risks relating to money-laundering and terrorism financing. That program has also recently undergone substantial and industry-leading uplift for a regional casino operator of our size and scale.

Mindil Beach Casino Resort general manager Brad Morgan said the business took its regulatory and harm minimisation obligations seriously.

“Mindil Beach Casino Resort has, and will continue to, engage closely and constructively with Territory and Federal regulators,” he said.

“Mindil Beach Casino Resort welcomes the opportunity now to collaborate with Austrac in Mindil Beach Casino Resort’s continuous pursuit of regulatory compliance and, where required, improvement.”

Originally published as The Ville, Mindil Beach casino resorts flagged as organised crime risks