Posted on 03/22/2003 1:01:16 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
Intermediate-size Nevada casinos will have to file suspicious-activity reports on certain cash transactions beginning Tuesday, Nevada gaming regulators announced.
The decision comes after the U.S. Treasury Department adopted anti-money laundering rules in September as part of the government's war on terrorism. Those rules require casinos that win more than $1 million per year from gamblers to file the suspicious activity reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a Michigan-based federal data repository.
Nevada regulators had hoped Treasury officials would exempt state casinos from the new suspicious-activity requirements, but the Nevada Gaming Commission announced Thursday that federal officials have rejected their request.
Casinos that win more than $10 million annually already file suspicious activity reports with the control board, but smaller properties weren't required to do so. On Tuesday, all properties that win more than $1 million annually will have to file the forms with the financial crimes network.
About 140 casinos, grocery stores and small slot routes fall into the $1 million-$10 million range, control board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Friday.
"They'll have to establish a written policy, train their employees and have the forms available," Neilander said, predicting that newly covered businesses will rarely have to actually fill out one of the forms.
"This size of business doesn't get many large transactions," the chairman said.
Regulators sought the exemption from the suspicious-activity reporting rules to save the 140 operators from extra paperwork, he said, noting that most of the businesses would be unlikely to handle transactions big enough to warrant a report.
None of the affected 140 operators asked the control board to block the new federal requirement, Neilander said.
Suspicious activity reports differ from cash transaction reports, which are used to report all cash transactions of $10,000 or more.
Neilander said another noteworthy change in the federal rules requires casinos to report suspicious activity when an employee "knows, suspects or has reason to suspect" possible money laundering, a tougher but more nebulous standard than Nevada's current rule, which gives casino employees the discretion to exercise judgment about the nature of a transaction.
The new rules were authorized under last year's Patriot Act to curtail money laundering by terrorist groups.
Seriously though, the larger casinos are security conscious. The Bellagio stops you and talks to you and searches your trunk, the Venetian chats you up too and will check your vehicle, and Paris requires a photo ID if you are using self-park. The valets are supposed to help security if you use valet parking.
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