Ontario’s gaming regulator has fined the operator of Pickering Casino Resort $170,000 CAD for failing to catch and report suspected money laundering. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) penalized Great Canadian Entertainment on July 7, 2026 following a compliance audit, its second AGCO penalty in just over a week.
What the AGCO found
An AGCO compliance audit of Pickering Casino Resort identified several failures by Great Canadian Entertainment (GCE) to properly assess and track high-risk patrons who were not subject to the required enhanced scrutiny. The review also found that required Suspicious Transaction Reports were not filed in a number of cases where patrons showed potential money-laundering indicators.
When the penalty was announced, Great Canadian Entertainment had not immediately responded to a request for comment, CBC News reported. It later accepted the finding. “We accept the findings of AGCO’s audit and the importance of a robust and comprehensive regulatory regime that maintains the highest standards for the conduct of gaming in Ontario,” Chuck Keeling, GCE’s Executive Vice President of External Relations and Business Development, told Casino.org, adding that adhering to such standards “will continue to be foundational for our operations moving forward.”
Which standards GCE breached
The penalty cites two sections of the Registrar’s Standards for Gaming, the rulebook every Ontario casino operator agrees to follow.
Section 6.1 — the AGCO found the operator:
“failed to have mechanisms in place to reasonably identify and prevent unlawful activities at Pickering Casino Resort, including by failing to conduct adequate risk assessments and appropriately monitor and analyze player transactions for possible unlawful activity.”
Section 6.3 — the AGCO found the operator:
“failed to have reasonable measures in place to identify and prevent suspected money laundering activities… including by failing to implement risk-based policies and procedures that provide escalating measures for patrons who engage in behaviour consistent with money laundering indicators.”
In plain terms: the casino did not properly track higher-risk patrons or escalate scrutiny when their behaviour matched known money-laundering patterns, and it did not file suspicious-activity reports in cases where it should have.
These provincial standards sit on top of federal law. Under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, Canadian casinos are “reporting entities” that must file a Suspicious Transaction Report with FINTRAC whenever there are reasonable grounds to suspect a transaction is linked to money laundering, an obligation that carries no minimum dollar threshold. The AGCO’s Standards operationalize those federal requirements on the casino floor.
What the regulator said
“The AGCO requires casino operators to take a proactive approach to identifying and reporting suspicious activity. When high-risk behaviour is not properly monitored or reported, it weakens important safeguards that protect the integrity of Ontario’s gaming sector. The AGCO will continue to hold operators accountable to high standards of responsible operation.”
The words are those of Dr. Karin Schnarr, the AGCO’s Chief Executive Officer and Registrar, who has led the regulator since September 2023.
The second penalty in just over a week
The money-laundering fine came eight days after a separate AGCO order. On June 29, 2026, the regulator fined Great Canadian Entertainment $120,000 for using unauthorized bill-validator software on slot machines across four Ontario casinos — 40 instances between February 20 and March 15, 2025 — conduct the AGCO said bypassed critical safeguards, including anti-money-laundering controls. Taken together, the two orders total $290,000 against a single operator over eight days.
That fits a longer pattern. Over roughly the past 14 months, Great Canadian has drawn several AGCO monetary penalties beyond the two 2026 orders, including $151,000 in May 2025 for failing to keep minors off gaming floors and $350,000 in June 2025 over an unauthorized after-party on the gaming floor of its Toronto resort.
Who is Great Canadian Entertainment
Great Canadian Entertainment traces its roots to 1982, when Vancouver entrepreneur Ross McLeod founded Great Canadian Casino Company to run temporary charity casinos, including one at the Pacific National Exhibition. The company went public in 1992, became Great Canadian Gaming Corporation in 1997, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2004, growing over the following decades into one of Canada’s largest gaming operators, with casinos, racetracks, and hotels across British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In November 2020, funds managed by Apollo Global Management agreed to take the company private for $39.00 CAD per share, a deal valued at more than $3.3 billion CAD; the acquisition closed in September 2021, with HPS Investment Partners as co-investor, delisting the company from the TSX and prompting its rename to Great Canadian Entertainment. Now headquartered in North York, Toronto and still owned by Apollo-managed funds, the company has since 2024 been selling most of its British Columbia casinos to First Nations groups to pay down acquisition debt, concentrating its footprint on Ontario, its largest market.
In Ontario, Great Canadian operates around a dozen properties, all regulated by the AGCO. Alongside Pickering Casino Resort, they include:
- Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto
- Casino Ajax
- Great Blue Heron Casino & Hotel
- Elements Casino Brantford, Grand River, and Mohawk
- Shorelines Casino Belleville, Peterborough, and Thousand Islands, plus Shorelines Slots at Kawartha Downs
- Georgian Downs and Flamboro Downs (racetrack and gaming)
Beyond Ontario, the company runs Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax and Sydney and Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, alongside its remaining, shrinking presence in British Columbia.
How this fits AGCO’s money-laundering enforcement
At $170,000, the Pickering penalty is among the largest anti-money-laundering-specific fines against an Ontario land-based casino in recent years, and it fits a broader pattern of intensified AGCO enforcement across casinos and online operators. Recent AGCO actions include:
| Date | Operator | Amount | Where | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 2024 | MGE Niagara Entertainment | $70,000 | Fallsview Casino Resort (land-based) | Failed to report a suspicious cash transaction and verify a high-risk patron’s source of funds |
| Oct 7, 2025 | theScore | $105,000 | Online | Responsible-gambling intervention failures |
| Jan 8, 2026 | FanDuel Canada | $350,000 | Online sportsbook | Suspicious betting with match-fixing indicators, not reported in time |
| Feb 12, 2026 | PointsBet Canada | 5-day suspension | Online sportsbook | Suspicious NBA bets tied to the Jontay Porter scheme |
| May 7, 2026 | Relax Gaming / Arrise | $40,000 each | Game suppliers | Games reachable through unregulated sites serving Ontario players |
| Jun 29, 2026 | Great Canadian Entertainment | $120,000 | Four Ontario casinos | Unauthorized slot software that bypassed AML safeguards |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Great Canadian Entertainment | $170,000 | Pickering Casino Resort | Failed to identify high-risk patrons and file suspicious-transaction reports |
At $170,000, the Pickering order is roughly 2.4 times the closest land-based precedent, the $70,000 penalty against the operator of Fallsview Casino Resort in January 2024. The larger figure appears to reflect the breadth of the finding: multiple unfiled reports and systemic gaps identified in an audit, rather than a single missed transaction.
What it means for Ontario players
For players choosing among AGCO-regulated operators, enforcement like this is the system working as intended rather than a cause for alarm. The penalty targets an operator’s back-office anti-money-laundering and monitoring processes, not the safety of players’ funds or the fairness of the games.
The practical takeaway: the same regulator that registers Ontario casinos also audits them and issues public penalties when standards slip. Anti-money-laundering controls, source-of-funds checks, and suspicious-activity reporting are part of what separates AGCO-regulated operators, online and land-based, from unregulated sites that face no comparable oversight.
What happens next
An operator served with an Order of Monetary Penalty can appeal to the Licence Appeal Tribunal, an independent body within Tribunals Ontario, within 15 days. Great Canadian Entertainment has publicly accepted the audit findings and, as of July 10, 2026, had not indicated it would appeal; the appeal window runs to approximately July 22, 2026.
This article reflects publicly available information as of July 10, 2026 and will be updated if the AGCO or Great Canadian Entertainment issues further statements.
19+. Play within your limits. If gambling is a problem, call ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 or visit connexontario.ca.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Great Canadian Entertainment fined by the AGCO?
The AGCO ordered $170,000 in penalties on July 7, 2026 after a compliance audit found the operator failed to adequately identify and monitor high-risk patrons and did not file required Suspicious Transaction Reports for patrons showing potential money-laundering indicators at Pickering Casino Resort.
How much was the fine and which casino was involved?
The total penalty was $170,000, tied to failures at Pickering Casino Resort in Pickering, Ontario. It followed a separate $120,000 penalty eight days earlier for unauthorized slot-machine software.
What other casinos does Great Canadian Entertainment operate?
In Ontario, Great Canadian runs around a dozen AGCO-regulated properties, including Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, Pickering Casino Resort, Casino Ajax, Great Blue Heron, the Elements Casino venues, and the Shorelines Casino venues. It also operates Casino Nova Scotia and Casino New Brunswick, with a shrinking presence in British Columbia as those casinos transfer to First Nations ownership.
Does this affect players at Pickering Casino Resort?
The penalty concerns the operator’s internal anti-money-laundering and monitoring processes, not the safety of player funds or the fairness of games. Pickering Casino Resort remains an AGCO-regulated operator.
Can Great Canadian Entertainment appeal the penalty?
Yes. An operator can appeal an Order of Monetary Penalty to the Licence Appeal Tribunal within 15 days. As of July 10, 2026, no appeal had been publicly confirmed, and the operator had accepted the audit findings.