Law enforcement in Alberta continues to search for the last suspect in a sophisticated fraud operation that targeted ATMs in Edmonton-area casinos and resulted in over CAD 1 million ($720,487) in losses throughout Western Canada.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has confirmed that Hisham Ismaeel, 28, remains at large with a province-wide warrant for his arrest. He faces charges of fraud exceeding $5000 and possessing proceeds of crime. Police have already arrested four other men linked to the scheme. Investigators describe the operation as a well-planned effort to exploit financial systems and clean dirty money.

The accused, Elliot Miao, 42, Van Bau Ta, 39, Hassan Jaafar Haydar Ahmad, 37, and Dennis Jones, 42, showed up in the Alberta Court of Justice last week. They face charges from fraud and money laundering to owning criminal property. Miao also has a narcotics trafficking charge after police found cocaine when they searched with warrants.

Investigators claim the group made coordinated withdrawals at several casino ATMs, timing their transactions to avoid getting caught. This action messed up ATM networks in the area and showed flaws in the systems that banks and casinos use to stop misuse.

The RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region led an investigation that involved six search warrants in Edmonton. The Edmonton Police Service, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), and several banks supported this effort. Officials said the case shows how teamwork between public agencies and the private sector plays a key role in combating modern financial crime.

AGLC representatives pointed out that casino operators in the province must follow strict reporting and surveillance rules under Canada’s anti-money laundering laws. The specific casinos affected remain unnamed, but the Edmonton region has seven licensed facilities. AGLC said its policies helped spot problems and backed the RCMP’s investigation.

Compliance experts say this fraud shows how criminals change their methods to take advantage of weak spots in reporting limits and transaction checks. They claim that casinos, which deal with lots of cash, are still easy targets unless they keep improving their detection systems and teach their front-line workers to notice coordinated actions like several big withdrawals happening one after another.

For now, the case highlights both the money and crime aspects of casino-related fraud. Besides the million-dollar losses, finding drugs during the raids points to a bigger criminal operation where financial crimes and drug dealing overlap.

Pennsylvania continues to lead the way in the US when it comes to online casino revenue. For July, PA online casinos produced $277.9 million in revenue, which tops the nation for the month.

The $277.9 million is the fifth-highest revenue month for the state in its iGaming history. It finished over $27 million ahead of Michigan ($250.5 million) and over $30 million ahead of New Jersey ($247.3 million) for July.

This past month’s revenue was a 22.2% jump from a year ago, when the state generated $227.4 million in July 2024.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board releases its monthly data and highlights adjusted gaming revenue, which takes promotional dollars out of the gross gaming revenue. The adjusted revenue for the month was $228.3 million.

PGCB reports also list revenue by licensee. When iGaming launched in 2019, 10 different retail casinos in the state were granted licenses to operate online casinos, while two operators (Bally, Golden Nugget) earned untethered licenses. Some licensees have multiple online casinos operating under their umbrella. However, revenue is reported collectively.

Penn National continues to lead the way in revenue. They feature online casino operators like DraftKings Casino, BetMGM Casino, Hollywood Casino, and Fanatics Casino.

Valley Forge finished second, they feature two operators in FanDuel Casino and Stardust Casino.

Some other notable date points from the July report include:

• A total of $67.4 million in state tax revenue was generated from online casinos in July. An additional $36.5 million was generated in local taxes and county grants.

Advertisement

• Slots made up the vast majority of revenue with $226.8 million coming from the online slot games. Table games brought in $48.5 million, while poker generated $2.5 million in revenue.

• Poker revenue was up 9.7% year over year, as it was at $2.3 million in July 2024.

Delaware casinos generated $34.8 million in revenue last month, down from $36.4 million the previous year, a 4.5% year-over-year decline.

In a report published by the Delaware Lottery, Harrington Casino saw the most significant year-over-year loss, with revenues decreasing from $7.8 million to $7.2 million, a drop of 7.2%. Slots and table games experienced year-over-year losses, with slots revenue declining by 5.9% and table games seeing a loss of more than 25%.

Delaware Park also experienced a decline of 4.3% but generated the highest revenue, at $15.1 million. Slots at the casino saw a loss of 5.9%, with its revenue decreasing from $13.8 million to just less than $13 million. Table games revenue increased by 5.1% year-over-year from just more than $2 million to $2.1 million.

Bally’s Dover also reported a revenue decline last month, but not as much as the others. Revenue dropped from $12.9 million to $12.5 million, showing a 3% decline. Table games saw increased revenue for the casino, with profits rising from $1.1 million to $1.3 million, a 16.6% increase. Slots declined 4.8% from $11.7 million to $11.2 million year-over-year.