Chapter 113 - No Brains (1/2)

Halia sat down at a baccarat table and began to observe how people played. The only time she had seen something like this was in the movies. Fortunately, it was a very easy game to start on and completely relied on luck; it required no skill whatsoever.

No wonder it was one of the more popular tables.

A part of Halia's deal with Thomas' junket company was to spend at least 2 hours a day on the tables, so she had no choice but to play along. But, it also gave her the opportunity to understand the clientele.

Was anyone money laundering and did the junkets and casino know about it?

Money laundering was the process of concealing the origins of money obtained by illegally passing it through a complex sequence of transactions. This was done to hide dirty money and make it 'clean' again (like passing it through a laundry). But, one of the less complex ways, was to go through the casino. As there was no receipt for the amount that people exchanged for ch.i.p.s, many criminals took the proceeds of their crimes, turned them into ch.i.p.s, played for a while and cashed them in, pretending they were all 'winnings'. Since the cash received in the end was a cheque and no one knew how much money they started with, they could claim that they won everything from the casino; all of a sudden, all the dirty money turned into clean money.

So, of course, for people that needed to launder a lot of money, casinos were a great option, especially if they had help from inside.

For people in China, gambling was illegal, so they needed to visit casinos overseas. The closest was Macau, but the government also limited the amount of money they could take out of the country. So, they needed someone to help them access fund. Junkets and casinos saw this need and naturally took advantage of it.

As Halia sat at the table, she nervously bet a chip on the 'dealer' while everyone around her stuck in their hands and placed bets without hesitation. Some of the ch.i.p.s were even stacked up like mountains. Obviously, these people weren't that concerned about losing. Were they trying to quickly cycle their money through the tables?

At that moment, a sharp female voice laughed beside Halia's ear. It was an annoying laugh; the type that one needed an 'off' button for.

Halia glanced beside her and spotted a familiar face. The woman had flawless skin and perfectly straight teeth. It seemed, she had recovered well since the last time they met. ”Marissa, what a coincidence seeing you here,” Halia smiled.

Marissa scowled arrogantly and placed a stack of ch.i.p.s on 'player'. She was deliberately betting against Halia and it was extremely obvious.

”It's no coincidence,” she said. ”I always come to Macau and visit Emerson. After all, we're really close friends.”

”Oh, OK,” Halia replied with disinterest.

”We've known each other for years,” Marissa continued. ”He loves it when I visit.”

Halia nodded her head and scanned her eyes across the other VIP's in the room. She was here for an important mission; not to waste her time on this woman.

Marissa realized she was being ignored and it frustrated her, so she removed her coat to reveal her voluptuous body and sat down beside Halia. All the men around the table naturally looked over.