B.C. Court Upholds Casino Cash Restriction

A British Columbia man has lost his court battle to have his name removed from a casino restriction list, with the B.C. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) and its anti-money laundering measures.

The Case Against Ali Ghotaymi

Ali Ghotaymi, a Canada Post employee, was placed on BCLC’s “sourced cash conditions” list in July 2021 after casino staff at River Rock Casino flagged his pattern of large cash buy-ins. The conditions require patrons to provide evidence of the source of their cash when making buy-ins of $10,000 or more.

According to BCLC records, Ghotaymi made 29 large cash transactions at B.C. casinos between February 2019 and July 2021. Eleven of these transactions were exactly $9,000 — just under the $10,000 reporting threshold. In one instance on February 17, 2020, he made two $9,000 buy-ins at two different casinos within less than two hours.

Court Rules in Favor of BCLC

Ghotaymi argued that the restrictions wrongly stigmatized him as a money launderer and could impact his ability to obtain security clearances for employment. He claimed his $9,000 buy-ins came from previous casino winnings totaling $141,655 during the period in question, and that nine was simply his lucky number.

However, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Matthew Kirchner ruled that BCLC’s sourced cash conditions are administrative measures that regulate how patrons may buy-in at casinos, not adjudicative penalties. The court noted that patrons have alternative payment options and are not prohibited from gambling.

“When the history of money laundering in British Columbia casinos is considered, along with the strong public interest in curtailing that illegal and even dangerous activity, subjecting patrons who prefer to gamble using large sums of cash, even if obtained from the casino itself, to sourced cash conditions does not strike me as objectively onerous,” Justice Kirchner wrote.

Background: B.C.’s Money Laundering Crisis

The sourced cash conditions were introduced in 2015 following revelations about widespread money laundering in B.C. casinos. The 2022 Cullen Commission report found that in 2014 alone, B.C. casinos accepted nearly $1.2 billion in cash transactions of $10,000 or more, including 1,881 individual buy-ins exceeding $100,000.

The commission identified direct links between criminal organizations and cash transactions at B.C. casinos, prompting the provincial government to pass the new Gaming Control Act, which comes into effect this April and includes the creation of an independent gambling regulator.

What This Means for Casino Patrons

The ruling reinforces BCLC’s authority to impose sourcing requirements on large cash transactions. Patrons who wish to use cash winnings from previous casino visits must still deposit those funds into a bank account and withdraw them again, creating a traceable transaction history that benefits from banks’ anti-money laundering procedures.

The case highlights the ongoing tension between individual privacy concerns and regulatory efforts to combat financial crime in the gaming industry.