FINTRAC Fines Two Canadian Gaming Corporations Over AML Reporting Failures

Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) has imposed separate administrative monetary penalties on two provincial gaming corporations after compliance examinations identified failures under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and associated regulations.

FINTRAC announced both actions on 3 September 2026. Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, headquartered in Halifax, was fined C$231,826 on 23 July 2026. New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, headquartered in Fredericton, was fined C$399,712.50 on 24 July 2026.

Suspicious transaction reporting failures

For Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, FINTRAC identified three administrative violations. The corporation failed to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that attempted transactions were related to a money laundering or terrorist financing offence. It also failed to maintain written compliance policies and procedures that were current and approved by a senior officer, and failed to adequately assess and document money laundering and terrorist financing risks using the prescribed factors.

New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation was found to have failed to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect that transactions were related to a money laundering or terrorist financing offence.

Both corporations paid their penalties in full, and FINTRAC said both cases are closed.

Casino-sector AML obligations remain a supervisory focus

FINTRAC notes that casinos and other reporting entities must maintain compliance regimes, identify clients, keep prescribed records and report specified financial activity, including suspicious transactions. The agency said suspicious transaction reporting is particularly important because it supports financial intelligence disclosures to Canadian law-enforcement and national-security agencies.

The actions also come amid a broader increase in FINTRAC enforcement. In 2025–26, the agency issued 35 Notices of Violation, the highest number in a single year in its history, with penalties totalling more than C$247 million. Since receiving administrative monetary penalty authority in 2008, FINTRAC has imposed more than 180 penalties across regulated sectors.

For casino operators, the two cases reinforce that suspicious transaction reporting failures can trigger enforcement even where the underlying issue is not limited to completed transactions; attempted suspicious transactions may also require reporting when the statutory threshold is met.