Mid-Day

Politicians, judges, military officers as well as bureaucrats with a gambling fetish need to beware now. A new amendment to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Goa now mandates all casinos in the state to keep tabs on lawmakers, judicial officers as well as civilian and military officials in order to ensure that they do not spend money unproportionate to their salaries.

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The change comes even as several top politicians in Goa and bureaucrats have been repeatedly seen in the state’s casinos spending fortunes, and at times even indulging in brawls. These have been caught on CCTV cameras.

“Casinos shall gather sufficient information on any customer of this category intending to establish a relationship and check all available information of the customer in the public domain,” the newly modified guidelines for the casinos issued by the Goa government say.

“Casinos shall verify the identity of the customer and seek information about the sources of funds before accepting the Politically Exposed Person (PEP) as a customer,” the notified rule says.

The casino operators have also been directed to introduce a Know Your Customer protocol, which would enable the management to know briefly about the legitimate background of the gambler. Goa has half a dozen offshore casinos and nearly a dozen onshore casinos operating in the state, visited by hundreds of thousands of locals as well as tourists annually.