VIENNA, Va. - The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today published new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) developed to assist the casino and gaming industry in complying with its responsibilities under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
"FinCEN remains committed to protecting the financial system from abuse by criminals, and one way we can achieve this goal is to engage regulated industries by providing useful information and guidance to help them focus their compliance efforts against actual risks," said FinCEN Director James H. Freis, Jr.
"This guidance for the gaming industry is part of FinCEN's ongoing and coordinated educational efforts to better inform the industry so that gaming interests have the latest information they need to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, and ultimately, help law enforcement identify illicit activity," said Director Freis.
Topics covered include, among others: which gaming establishments are "casinos" under the BSA; whether or not a casino or card club must have an internal control for chip redemptions; reporting and record retention rules governing casinos and card clubs; the treatment of floor persons, chip runners, and hosts in currency transaction reports for casinos (CTRCs); information sharing by casinos under Section 314(b) of the USA PATRIOT Act; rules governing casino and card club reporting of suspicious transactions through the filing of suspicious activity reports for casinos (SARCs); and what information a casino or card club may disclose in response to a subpoena, summons or other process issued in civil litigation. In all, FinCEN offers guidance through 25 questions and answers.
Today's FAQs build on earlier guidance provided to the gaming industry in November 2007. FinCEN's casino home page contains other regulatory information and news relevant to casinos and card clubs.