[3] The GCA mandates that BCLC is responsible for the conduct and management of all commercial gaming in British Columbia, including the ability to: In 1969 the Canadian Criminal Code was amended to allow the federal and provincial governments to offer "lottery schemes".

In 1985, after 10 years as a WCLC member, British Columbia decided to administer all lotteries in the province on its own behalf under a Crown corporation, BCLC.

In 1997, following further amendments to the Criminal Code, BCLC's mandate was expanded to give it responsibility for commercial casino and bingo operations across BC.

Lottery products are sold primarily through sales agreements with private-sector retailers like pharmacies, gas stations and grocery stores.

[7] BCLC's Casino division provides traditional brick-and-mortar casino gambling services, including slot machines; a full range of live table games including blackjack, baccarat, poker, craps, roulette, sic bo and pai-gow; electronic table games; and bingo.

Additionally, the BC gaming regulator interpreted the Criminal Code as prohibiting bets on races and fights, which were allowed in other provinces.

On the 27th of August 2021, single-event betting became legal in Canada, and was left up to each province to decide how to implement and regulate this change.

[11] BCLC offers a responsible-gaming program, known as GameSense, to help players who have difficulty controlling the time and money they spend on gambling.

Most major casinos have GameSense advisers available to provide players and the general public with information on healthy gambling practices.

The survey's authors extrapolated these responses to the entire adult population of BC, concluding that it represented "an estimated 125,000 people considered to be problem gamblers".

The results were entirely dependent on responses provided to the nine questions; no participants were assessed by qualified mental health professionals, or diagnosed as having gambling problems or disorders.

BC's Public Health Officer represented the 2007 prevalence survey results as finding that more than 100,000 people were in fact problem gamblers.

His report, Lower the Stakes: A Public Health Approach to Gambling in British Columbia, stated: "A combined total of 4.6 per cent (representing approximately 159,000 people in BC) were moderate-risk and problem gamblers"; and, "[h]owever, the percentage of problem gamblers more than doubled, increasing from 0.4 to 0.9 per cent.

Money laundering refers to the methods criminals use to make proceeds from their illicit activities appear to have originated from legitimate sources.

This often occurs at a financial institution and is achieved by breaking large sums of cash into smaller amounts before making deposits into various bank accounts.

In the third phase, integration, the funds are used in legitimate transactions, such as the purchases of businesses, real estate, investments and luxury items.

Canada has legislation creating an anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing regime (AML/CFT), consisting of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and the Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA).

[19] Reporting entities, including casinos, are obligated to implement compliance programs to identify AML/CTF risks to their businesses and to put protections in place.

The program is routinely audited by FINTRAC and the provincial gaming regulator to ensure it meets legislative requirements and works effectively.