Casino cuts ties with shredding company, BCLC makes new rules for destroying playing cards
Posted March 18, 2019 8:13 pm.
Last Updated March 19, 2019 5:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – Gateway Casinos has cut ties with White Rock’s ShredWise after playing cards that were meant to be shredded were not destroyed.
The British Columbia Lottery Corporation opened an investigation into how playing cards belonging to Burnaby’s Grand Villa Casino — owned by Gateway Casinos — were being disposed of after NEWS 1130 discovered a bin owned by ShredWise full nearly to the brim with unpunched, intact cards. The bins were being stored unguarded in a truck parking lot in Surrey.
ShredWise has said the incident was an employee issue and has denied any issues with its shredding practices.
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After terminating its contract with the shredding company, Grand Villa Casino has replaced its playing cards with a new series to make sure any old cards that may have escaped the casino can’t be used to cheat at the tables.
The BCLC is now directing all B.C. casinos not to hire external companies to destroy playing cards, but instead to use incinerators or drill holes into the decks.
BCLC spokesperson Matt Lee told NEWS 1130 that these steps were taken to “mitigate the possibility of disposed, intact cards being put into play.”
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The bin containing the used playing cards was just one of 17 found to have contained personal, private and confidential documents and records that were not destroyed by the private shredding company.
A whistleblower contacted NEWS 1130 after concerns their employer was not properly disposing of and caring for the confidential materials.
No other casinos had hired ShredWise to destroy playing cards, according to the BCLC.
