Resorts World Bimini’s compliance officer yesterday said the hotel’s casino has seen a “significant increase” in activity since the COVID-19 pandemic to now start rivalling 2019 numbers.

Larone Fawkes, also the property’s money laundering reporting officer, told Tribune Business that casino guest numbers are back to pre-pandemic figures as visitors have steadily increased over the last few years.

“We have experienced a significant increase, post-COVID. There has been a good amount of activity since the pandemic and now I’d say things are back to normal. You know, in our business you can never get enough, but yeah, we’ve seen a significant increase,” said Mr Fawkes.

Resorts World is one of the three casino licensees in The Bahamas and participated in the Gaming Board’s annual anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) training held yesterday.

Mr Fawkes said the Gaming Board is among the “more respected regulators” for the sector internationally, and licensees have “very high” internal controls so there is little concern about deficiencies heading into the country’s evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setter for combating money laundering and financial crime.

“The Bahamas Gaming Board is one of the more respected regulators for gaming worldwide. Their demands affect your internal controls, the regulations affect your internal controls, which are very high,” said Mr Fawkes.

“With regard to terrorist financing, we are advised by the Gaming Board based on United Nations Security Council reports on terrorists and we have to make sure that our database reflects that. That’s the extent of the kind of regulations that you’re dealing with”

Mr Fawkes said while Bahamian casinos may submit less suspicious transaction reports (STRs) than other countries, this is mainly due to the absence of income tax reporting. He explained that many foreign casino STRs are triggered by tax avoidance while Bahamian licensees report “actual” suspicious transactions.

“If you’re comparing it to, say, the United States, then pro-rated, it looks low. One of the reasons is they have currency transfer, CTRs, so if they’ve wagered over $10,000 a report has to go out, which is demanded by the IRS. We don’t have that kind of reporting in The Bahamas because we don’t have an income tax base, so that’s what’s driving those high numbers,” said Mr Fawkes.

“Our reporting is based on actual suspicious transactions. So comparatively, we feel that we’re doing okay. One may say it should be increased, but that’s where the training comes in on the front line, because in order for the report to be reported, it has to be initiated from the front line.”