FINTRAC fines Nova Scotia, New Brunswick gaming bodies

• FINTRAC fined Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation C$231,826 for three compliance violations and the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation C$399,712.50 for one, both tied to anti-money laundering reporting.
• Both Crown corporations failed to submit suspicious transaction reports despite reasonable grounds to suspect money laundering or terrorist financing.
• The fines follow Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s C$212,025 penalty, imposed May 29, 2026, and add to FINTRAC’s record 2025–26 enforcement total of more than C$247 million.

FINTRAC has imposed administrative monetary penalties totaling C$631,538.50 on Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, after compliance examinations found both provincial Crown corporations breached Part 1 of Canada’s Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

The penalties, announced on September 3, 2026, follow violations dated July 23 and July 24, and both cases are closed with the fines paid in full.

A $750 blind spot

Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, headquartered in Halifax, was fined C$231,826 across three separate breaches of the Act. FINTRAC found the operator failed to submit suspicious transaction reports where there were reasonable grounds to suspect a money laundering or terrorist financing link, and also cited it for compliance policies that were not kept current and a risk assessment that was never properly documented.

New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, based in Fredericton, drew the larger fine of C$399,712.50 for a single violation: the same failure to file suspicious transaction reports, without the additional policy or risk-assessment findings levelled at its Nova Scotia counterpart.

FINTRAC’s own notice does not disclose transaction amounts or channels.

According to Rachel Boomer, communications director for Nova Scotia’s Finance and Treasury Board, speaking to Canadian Gaming Business, the province’s penalty traced back to online casino operations run through Atlantic Lottery, and involved two transactions worth roughly $750 and $465 that went unreported despite raising flags.

Boomer said the players involved were banned and suspended once the gap was identified, and that internal policies have since been revised.

FINTRAC’s busiest year

Stéphane Sirard, Acting Director and Chief Executive Officer of FINTRAC, Canada’s financial intelligence unit, said:

“Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime is in place to protect the safety of Canadians, the security of Canadian businesses and the integrity of Canada’s financial system.

“The obligations in the Act deter criminals and terrorists from operating in the legitimate economy and ensure that FINTRAC receives the reporting needed to generate actionable financial intelligence in support of law enforcement and national security investigations. We will take firm action, when it is required, to ensure that businesses do their part and fulfill these obligations.”

Both Crown corporations are shareholders in Atlantic Lottery, which runs public lottery and online gaming across Canada’s four Atlantic provinces.

Atlantic Lottery itself paid a separate C$212,025 penalty, imposed May 29, 2026 and announced by FINTRAC on July 9, for three similar compliance violations. This week’s fines bring the total FINTRAC has collected from the Atlantic gaming network past C$840,000 in 2026 alone.

FINTRAC issued 35 Notices of Violation in the 2025–26 fiscal year, the largest single-year figure in its history, worth more than C$247 million combined. It has now handed out over 180 administrative penalties since gaining that power in 2008, part of a broader intelligence operation that generated more than 7,200 disclosure packages to law enforcement last year alone.

The clampdown mirrors gambling-sector AML action elsewhere in 2026, from Spain’s €551,952 fine against 888 to bet365’s AUSTRAC undertaking in Australia.

Not everyone settles

Atlantic Lottery opted not to fight its own penalty in court, saying publicly that an appeal would divert funds better returned to provincial shareholders. Nova Scotia Gaming and New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming have followed the same path, paying in full rather than contesting FINTRAC’s findings.

That is not the only route available. The British Columbia Lottery Corporation and the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority, both fined more than C$1 million last year over comparable suspicious-transaction lapses, are pursuing appeals through federal court instead, with BCLC arguing in its filing that FINTRAC “erred” and “misconstrued” several findings during its examination.

Canada’s gaming regulation remains split by province even as AML enforcement runs through a single federal body: Ontario licenses private operators through its AGCO framework, while Alberta only opened its market to competing operators in July 2026.

FINTRAC’s pace this year suggests provincial lottery corporations, not just private operators, will keep drawing its attention regardless of how each one is licensed.