While the number of alleged crimes at B.C. gaming facilities has soared over the past five years, the number of charges laid by a special gambling task force has barely budged.

Casino-goers are almost four times as likely to report an assault as they were five years ago, and ten times more likely to report what they believe is a fraud, a review of public documents shows.

The minister responsible for gaming, Rich Coleman, said that some of the increase may be due to the expansion of gaming in the province.

"We've seen a growth in the industry and more people going to casinos," he said.

But he said he was surprised at the scale of the increase, adding that he would look into the surge of crime complaints.

"We're on top of it, and we'll stay on top of it," he said.

A comparison of annual reports from the Housing Ministry shows that in the past five years, loan-sharking complaints have nearly tripled from 110 complaints to 306.

The reports also show fraud has jumped 10 times, from 23 to 283. Assault complaints have more than doubled, from 149 to 406. Thefts have nearly quadrupled from 276 to 1003.

The province has a team of investigators at B.C.'s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch with a budget of $3 million a year.

But there were only 18 charges laid across the province last year, and most of them were for theft. There were no charges laid for money laundering.

Gambling-related crime is a scourge that can destroy lives, said Garry Johns, a former high-stakes poker player whose life was threatened when his luck went bad.

"My addiction made me do some very bad things," he said.

When a loan shark threatened to kill him, he robbed an elderly friend.

"I hit him on the back of the skull and I cut him pretty severely," said Johns, shaking his head. "I just left him there and his 10-year-old granddaughter found him."

Johns turned himself in, served prison time and received intensive therapy. Now, he speaks to young people about the cautionary tale of his life.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward and Mi-Jung Lee