Rising Sun to the rescue
A big player from Gujarat, withclose links to ministers in the Narendra Modi government, is fretting in hissuite at a five star hotel in Panjim. He lost 15 lakhs the previous night andneeds four more lakhs to play again to make up for his losses. He calls the headof the casino where he played, to give him four more lakhs. The casino bosswaits for the junket agent who stood guarantee for the player. The SMS arrivesfrom junket agent code named “The Rising Sun”. Pls give 4000 (yes fourthousand) the code for four lakhs. The casino swings into action. The VIPservices are activated. The transport head rushes a plush car to pick him upand bring him to the casino. The security is told to waive his entryformalities and all decks (literally) are cleared for the player to arrive.Once he reaches, the head cashier, who too has been informed, hands over chipsworth four lakhs. Almost on cue, four more lakhs are “debited” from the RisingSun’s account that the casino maintains discreetly. And the party rolls on.
Time: 11 am on a weekday.
What a gift baby
A big player lost almost a crore at night at one of thecasinos, whose management runs both onshore and off shore operations. An hourafter he returned to his room in a resort in Baga, where one of the casinooperations are run, there is a knock on the door.
An actress, oft en seen in TV serials, was at the door andshe said “I’m your gift for the night from the casino. Don’t feel depressed”.The overjoyed loser came back again next week to gamble crores. The Goan isn’taware of more “gifts” sent to him.
A friend in deed
Casinos managements can be genuine friends too. The son of avery well-known fi lm director from Tamil Nadu, moved to Goa to gamble. In sixmonths he was broke and was going around asking for money. The casino head tookhim in, gave him dinner, bought him a ticket home, lent him money and ensuredhe went back to Chennai. His entry to the casino has been banned.
Junket queens
When there is gambling, there will be women. Remember the sultryJames Bond beauties huskily calling out to 007 “James”. We have desi versions.A casino had struck a major deal with a junket agent to work for it. The junketking arrived but with lots of baggage-his junket queens. The casino has aboutseven women parading the table area and on the arms of the Junket King. Thecasino has booked rooms for all of them. On the last day, the person handlingVIP services dished out a lakh of rupees to each. This really is service.
