Cardroom Casino Operators: Buying Favor With Politicians & Party Bosses
♦
The cardroom casino operators behind the deceptive campaign attacking California’s Indian tribes have a long, well-documented history of criminal and corruptive behavior and have been fined millions for violating anti-money laundering laws, misleading regulators and illegal gambling. What’s worse, these same bad actor cardroom casinos have dished out more than $50,000,000 on contributions to politicians, party bosses and other political campaigns to buy their support. Follow the money from these criminal cardroom casinos below:
Cardroom Casino Operator
Political Contributions
Violations & Penalties
Hawaiian Gardens Casino
$20,579,104
- Fined $3.1 million by the CA Department of Justice for “misleading gambling regulators and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, a federal law intended to combat money laundering”
- Fined $2.8 million by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for violating the Bank Secrecy Act
Bicycle Casino
$7,153,802
- Fined $500,000 by the U.S. Department of Justice for failing to “file Currency Transaction Reports and Suspicious Activity Reports” in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act
Park West Casinos & Related Entities
$5,868,286
- John Park, the owner of Park West Casinos, was fined $320,000 by the CA Department of Justice for persistently violating California gaming law in 6 cardrooms
Artichoke Joe's
$2,110,319
- Fined $5.3 million by CA Department of Justice for “misleading gambling regulators and violating the Bank Secrecy Act”
- Fined $8 million by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for loansharking and willfully violating anti-money laundering laws
- “For years, Artichoke Joe's turned a blind eye to loan sharking, suspicious transfers of high-value gaming chips, and flagrant criminal activity that occurred in plain sight,” said Jamal El-Hindi, Acting Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Hustler Casino & Related Entities
$2,202,274
- Fined $125,000 by CA Department of Justice for operating illegal gambling in violation of the Gambling Control Act
Casino M8trix
$2,110,538
- Fined $1.5 million by the CA Department of Justice for violating the Gambling Control Act by “self-dealing to siphon off monies for themselves and reduce reported net income”
PT Gaming
$2,396,400
- Fined $250,000 by the CA Department of Justice for persistently violating California gaming law in 5 cardrooms
Elevation Entertainment & Related Entities
$1,811,196
- Fined $500,000 by CA Department of Justice for operating unlawful gambling in violation of the Gambling Control Act
Oak’s Card Club
$549,700
- Fined $650,000 by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, a federal law intended to combat money laundering
Source: Official Campaign Finance Records of the CA Secretary of State via Cal-Access, 2001-Present. Partial List.