Richmond British Columbia - The opening of River Rock Casino in Richmond has led to a quadrupling of casino-related crime and allowed new organized crime groups to gain a foothold in the city, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
 
"Due to its size and popularity, the River Rock has attracted members of different crime groups that are not established in Richmond," states the August 2006 report by the Richmond RCMP criminal intelligence section.
 
The report, obtained by The Sun through the Freedom of Information Act, states River Rock has attracted money launderers from places including Washington state.
 
"We have ongoing intelligence that clearly indicates that members and associates of a variety of different organized crime groups attend that casino," Richmond RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen said in an interview Thursday. "They're attending for their own personal entertainment and/or involved in a variety of levels of criminal activity."
 
The internal report also raises concerns that not enough is being done to crack down on crime at the casino.
 
"The River Rock has inadvertently created an environment that allows the criminal activity of loansharking and its related criminal acts to now flourish behind the curtain of a "family oriented entertainment experience," the report states.
 
"In other words, as long as these activities remain low-key, and not in the public's eyes, and the flow of money remains unhindered, it is not considered a problem, and therefore a remedy is not actively sought."
 
Terry Towns, director of corporate security for the B.C. Lottery Corp., denied the report's suggestion that it isn't doing enough to stop loansharking.
 
"We take a zero-tolerance attitude towards any loansharking at any level," he said.
 
Towns says those suspected of loan-sharking are barred from B.C. casinos and his staff report all suspicious incidents to both the police and the province's Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch.
 
Great Canadian Casinos, which runs River Rock, said its security staff also does everything it can to stop crime.
 
"Any alleged activity that our security and surveillance people come across they report," said company spokesman Howard Blank.
 
River Rock opened in June 2004, replacing a smaller casino run by Great Canadian on Bridgeport Road in Richmond.
 
The report found no evidence that River Rock has increased criminal activity in the 500-metre radius around the facility.
 
But calls for service at the casino itself were up sharply.
 
In the first six months of 2003, according to the report, the RCMP received 32 calls for service from the Bridgeport casino.
 
In comparison, during the first six months of 2006, the Mounties received 137 calls from River Rock, a four-fold increase.
 
Those calls included:
 
20 cases of impaired driving;
 
10 cases of disturbing the peace;
 
Seven cases of uttering threats;
 
Six cases of fraud;
 
Six cases of assault;
 
Three cases of cocaine possession.
 
Blank said it's not fair to compare the two casinos, because River Rock is a full-service resort, with a hotel and theatre, whereas Bridgeport was only a gambling venue.
 
He said River Rock gets about 15,000 visitors a day, compared to 1,000 at the old casino.
 
At a news conference in August, Richmond RCMP Supt. Ward Clapham said his detachment was struggling to keep up with crime at RiverRock.
 
Clapham said three of five kidnappings in Richmond this year have involved possible gambling-related extortion and two of the 11 kidnappings in 2005 were gambling-related.
 
There have also been at least two suicides in Richmond related to gambling debts, he said.
 
River Rock is by far the most popular casino in B.C.
 
In the 2005-2006 fiscal year, it took in $215 million, just under one fifth of the $1.1 billion in total casino revenues provincewide.
 
The B.C. government receives about $900 million a year from all gambling sources. Of that, it spends about $3 million on investigating gambling-related crime, $1.5 million to pay for the RCMP's 12 member Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team, and another $1.5 million for 15 investigators with the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch.
 
The City of Richmond's share of River Rock's revenues last year was $11.2 million.
 
Richmond RCMP are currently in negotiations with the city for more officers to tackle crime, including at River Rock.
 
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said he's concerned about crime at the casino.
 
But he said the city is waiting for more information from the Mounties before it commits to more officers.
 
Thiessen said one of the biggest problems the detachment has in dealing with casino-related crime is that victims of loan-sharking are often reluctant to report the crime to police.
 
"A lot of the crime at the River Rock goes unreported," said Thiessen. "We need those victims to come forward."
 
Author unknown.