Ontario Zooms in on British Columbia's River Rock Casino

In a recent press release, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) declared it is working in close colaboration with law enforcement agencies in British Columbia, including the RCMP, and the British Columbia's gambling regulator in order to renew the strenght of their investigations on the money laundering allegations at the British Columbia flagship operation.  of the company awarded a lucrative contract to run casinos in the Greater Toronto Area.

The regulatory review, which according to River Rock Casino's spokesman Ray Kahnert "is still ongoing," is involving officials both at the AGCO and the Ontario Provincial Police bureau. The AGCO, which regulates the province's alcohol, horse racing and gambling sectors has declared on of its duties it to undertake reviews and determine whether allegations about [a company's] activities have any factual support.

In an e-mail to The Globe on Tuesday, Terrance Doyle, chief operating officer at Great Canadian, said that the company "has a culture of integrity and transparency founded on our strict compliance with the regulations in all jurisdictions where we do business, including Ontario. To be clear, to our knowledge, our company is not under investigation in any jurisdiction," said Doyle. "With respect to reports in BC, our employees followed all procedures required of them by BCLC [BC Lottery Corporation] and we do not believe our company's actions would give cause to initiate any investigation."

Great Canadian engages regularly with Ontario's gambling regulator as well as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG), which operates the province's gambling operations, as part of its operations in the province, as per Mr. Doyle's statement.

The allegations pointing at large volumes of suspicious cash swirling around casinos in B.C.'s Lower Mainland have cast a cloud over the modernization of Ontario's gambling agency, and may affect the process of awarding contracts to the private sector to build more casinos. Great Canadian, which is based in Coquitlam, B.C., has ambitions to further expand its operations in Ontario.

The OLG said last year that it plans to announce the winning bidder for the West GTA bundle in the fall of 2017. It includes a casino in Brantford, slots at Flamboro Downs and Grand River Raceway, and Mohawk Racetrack.