Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has been fined S$2.25 million ($1.7 million) by the Singapore gaming regulator, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) for failing to perform due diligence checks.
According to the Singapore gaming watchdog, RWS failed to perform due diligence when receiving cash of S$5,000 ($3,725) or more from third parties to deposit into customers’ accounts.
Casino operators are required to perform customer due diligence checks when they receive a cash deposit of S$5,000 ($3,725) or more into a patron’s deposit account.
In 2020, GRA directed casino operators RWS and Marina Bay Sands to conduct a review of certain patrons’ activities, after which it discovered non-compliances for some transactions.
It then conducted further investigations which revealed that between December 2016 and December 2019, RWS had failed to perform prescribed customer due diligence checks for certain transactions where RWS’s employees collected cash of S$5,000 ($3,725) or more from third parties for purposes of depositing into the accounts of RWS’s patrons.
‘GRA has cancelled the special employee license for one of the employees involved in the breaches, and is conducting further investigations to assess the culpability of the other special employees involved,’ the regulatory department noted.
A casino special employee license is issued by GRA to individuals who work in casino-related functions or make decisions on casino operations.
‘GRA takes a serious view of such lapses and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against errant casino operators. GRA will continue to exercise tight supervision over the operators’ compliance with our regulatory requirements,’ the GRA dispatch read.
Genting Singapore, which owns RWS, said in a filing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) that there was no evidence of criminal offences or money laundering, and no police report was made.
Between April 2022 and March 2023 RWS had already been was fined a total of S$95,000 ($70,783) in the last financial year for breaching casino control regulations by not doing proper checks on its customers.
The integrated resort was fined $20,000 ($14,901) for failing to perform customer due diligence measures, and $75,000 ($55,881) for failing to perform enhanced customer due diligence measures, said the GRA.
