Christchurch Casinos Limited penalised $5.06 million for AML/CFT breaches
20 October 2025
The High Court has confirmed a civil pecuniary penalty of $5.06 million against Christchurch Casinos Limited for breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009. This follows the Department of Internal Affairs’ announcement in August 2025 of a settlement reached with Christchurch Casinos regarding civil proceedings under the Act. The confirmed penalty reflects serious compliance failures between December 2018 and December 2023.
The Department investigated Christchurch Casinos’ AML/CFT practices and identified deficiencies in its account monitoring, enhanced customer due diligence, suspicious activity reporting, record keeping and the overall effectiveness of its AML/CFT programme. Some of these deficiencies were systemic. The High Court noted that while the breaches were not deliberate, Christchurch Casinos did not take sufficient action after being made aware of the issues.
This case demonstrates the consequences of failing to respond to known AML/CFT issues. It highlights the importance of maintaining policies, procedures and controls that are not only proportionate to risk but actively strengthened when issues are identified. The Department remains focused on supporting AML/CFT compliance and will take enforcement action where serious or systemic non-compliance occurs.
More information can be found about the Department’s role in the AML/CFT system and our regulatory approach on our webpage here: AML-CFT Homepage - dia.govt.nz
