SUSPICIOUS CASH FLOWED AT CASINOS `LIKE A DRIVE-IN'

The former executive director of the B.C. Gaming Policy Enforcement Branch says investigators started noticing more suspicious cash at casinos in 2007, and by 2010 the casinos were “like a drive-in” where bags of $20 bills were being delivered to parking lots. Larry Vander Graaf says he started raising concerns because people were buying $10,000 worth of gaming chips with bundles of $20 bills wrapped with elastic bands. The B.C. government launched a public inquiry following reports that concluded hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal cash was fuelling B.C.’s real estate, luxury vehicle and gaming sectors. Vander Graaf told the public inquiry the increase occurred while the RCMP were preparing Canada’s largest-ever security effort to police the Olympics.