Odd for the gambling industry in Las Vegas, Wynn Las Vegas associated with Wynn Resorts Limited has recently accepted to pay $130,131,645 to cover criminal claims concerning its financial situation. This fine, announced by the federal departments, is one of the biggest penalties in the recent history of casino, and proves that the government continues to crack down the gambling industry on violations of the anti-money laundering laws.
Wynn Las Vegas was accused based on an investigative report that looked at the casino’s structure and financial dealings particularly managing high roller accounts and cross-border transactions. Claims of money laundering and alleged ignorance to some of the richest of its patrons saw the federal prosecutor nab the casino.
Close sources that the casino reportedly did not subject some of its VIP customers to requisite documentation and background check on such huge amounts of money as millions of dollars were gambled. These authorities opine that this laid back attitude towards due diligence put in place a situation that was vulnerable to acts of money laundering and other related evils.
The settlement agreement while exonerating Wynn Las Vegas from criminal charges puts the casino under strict compliance measures with a series of compliance reforms. These are; the strengthening of its framework for dealing with Ml, raising the awareness of its staff to the detection of financial crime, and receiving periodic assessments by monitor external assessors.
Other Las Vegas casinos can now regard this settlement as a wake-up call that the federal authorities are tightening the screws on the financial compliance of the gambling industry. Wynn Resorts’ financial performance is expected to be affected by the size of the forfeiture for the year; however, early trading price of the company’s stock proved fairly robust after the news.
The case has again brought controversy of the efforts of casinos in preventing the incidences of financial crimes. Skeptics say that the gambling business model targeting those large customers in question can cause inherent conflict of interests where the implementation of measures against money laundering is concerned. The industry’s proponents, however, said most of the casinos implement strict measures to prevent the breaches, and the Maryland case was a rare occurrence.
Some representatives of the city of Las Vegas have pointed out that the revelations can harm the image of gambling in the area, which was affected by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. But they also stressed that the settlement proved that regulatory supervision work, and the industry is ready to solve problems concerning compliance.
The Wynn Las Vegas case is part of a growing list of problems with the gambling industry’s finances. Over the period of several years, all the other large casino operators have been involved in similar accusations and fines, but none as massive as this new large settlement.
Other casinos in Las Vegas are said to be carrying out an audit of their compliance procedures in order to correct any failure on the part of any of them to conform to federal requirements as a result of the spreading news of the settlement. Such case is expected to raise internal audits and compliance improvements across the industry; this will mean that the operating costs for the casinos are likely to go up, although the sector will be made more credible by such movements.
The settlement also signifies that reducing the number of individual clients has remained a major concern for the casinos due to competition pressure, which forces them to look for high value consumers while at the same time, maintaining checks on their purchases. As the global economy recovers, and the international travel returns after the Covid-19 pandemic, Vegas casinos will attract more high-net-worth internationals, the need for stringent anti-money laundering legislation becomes even greater.
As you will recall, the initial financial effects for Wynn Resorts are huge, but most analysts agree that enhanced compliance and increased transparency will only be plus for both the company and the general Las Vegas gambling market in the long run. One industry insider summed it up this way: “It might be a very expensive education for Las Vegas but the net result will be the creation of an authoritative image for the city as a credible gambling resort of international standing.”