An executive with Great Canadian Gaming shed most of his financial stake in the company at a time when it was competing on a lucrative contract to run gambling facilities in Ontario, including a casino expansion at Woodbine racetrack.
That sell-off happened only 3 months after a report was submitted to the BC attorney general that implicated Great Canadian's largest casino, located near Vancouver, in allegations of money laundering.
The report alleged that workers at River Rock Casino in Richmond, BC knowingly accepting millions of dollars in suspicious cash transactions, which could have been the proceeds of crime.
The document wasn't made public until September 2017 -- more than a month after it was announced that Great Canadian had been awarded the 22-year, multi-billion dollar casino contract by Ontario's public lottery agency.
NEWSTALK 1010 has learned that Neil Baker, an investor and long-time member of Great Canadian's board of directors, sold most of his common shares in the company in November 2016.
Baker's son, Rod Baker, is the CEO of Great Canadian Gaming.
A news release from the company says that Neil Baker sold 6 million common shares and offered a financial services firm an option to sell an extra 2 million shares.
Baker's stake in the company went from 18 per cent, to just under 5 per cent.
At a share price of $23.25 each, the sale earned Baker almost $140,000,000.
It is not clear why Baker decided to sell the shares, and there is no confirmation that the sale is linked to the government report that implicated the company for which Baker was an executive.
It is worth noting, however, that Baker's sell-off meant that he missed out on a surge in Great Canadian's stock price, when it was announced it won the casino business in Ontario.
On the day Great Canadian released the information about Baker's sale, the company stock was trading as low as $23.24 per share.
Less than a year later, on August 8th, 2017, shares of Great Canadian Gaming shot up 14.6 per cent, to $29.13, when word broke that the company would be Ontario's next casino business partner.
Finance Minister Charles Sousa, the politician in charge of the gambling file at Queen's Park, insists it is too soon to talk about the idea of stepping away from Ontario's deal with Great Canadian.
He stresses the company was vetted and cleared before it started bidding on operating casinos in Ontario, and adds that Great Canadian is not under investigation by gambling regulators or by police.
"I am assured that the authorities know about the activities of the (casino) proponents and I understand they are still in discussions," Sousa says.
"The regulators talk amongst themselves all the time and I understand that they're continuing to have those discussions; I'll let them do their job."
Earlier this week, Opposition parties at Queen's Park called on Great Canadian's contract to be halted, pending an investigation into what happened in BC.
Premier Kathleen Wynne has said that the situation "raises questions" and that a BC government review of anti-money laundering measures is one that her administration is "watching closely."
Sousa stressed on Wednesday that the best course of action is to let that probe unfold, rather than take action.
Police in BC have arrested and laid money laundering charges against 2 people connected to a money-transfer company in connection with this case.
No one from Great Canadian has been formally charged.
The company has denied any wrongdoing and says it follows Canada's laws against money laundering.
"Our employees followed all procedures required of them by BC Lottery Corporation, none of our employees are facing charges, nor we do not believe our company's actions would give cause to initiate any investigation,'' says a written statement from chief operating officer Terrance Doyle.
Officials with Ontario Lottery & Gaming, along with the provincial gaming regulator, say they didn't know before or during the contract procurement process about the allegations surrounding Great Canadian.
They claim they didn't learn about the situation until the BC government made the attorney general's report public.
Investigators with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario have told NEWSTALK 1010 they're in touch with authorities in British Columbia about this case.