THE Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs will look into reports that casinos and other gambling joints have become safe havens for drug traffickers moonlighting as high rollers who launder drug money by converting them into chips…
An undated PDEA report indicated that drug traffickers are more comfortable transacting business in casinos and other gambling spots because chips are safer to handle than crisp bills, which could turn out to be marked money.
“Casinos and other similar gambling establishments are also reported to have been used in transacting drug deals wherein payments for the illegal drugs are converted into casino chips to avoid handling marked money,” the report said.
A confidential informant from the anti-drug agency gave The Times a copy of the report and explained that chips can be converted to either clean cash or check.
“It’s fast and it’s easy to launder money in casinos. Even if we used marked money in sting operations where serial numbers are recorded prior to the bust and once the dealer requested to convert the money into chips, that will be a big problem. Marked bills would be useless,” the informant said.
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