Watching for washing at the casinos

ERIK PINDERA

AMID the slot machines’ flashing lights and the boastful murmurs around the poker table, surveillance cameras quietly captured a high roller and two of his associates strolling into Club Regent Casino one cold February day in 2022.

The man was dressed in a puffy white parka and had a medical mask covering his face. Slung over his shoulder was a bag containing a lot of cash — $300,000 in $100 bills.

He and one of his associates headed to the cashier wicket at the Transcona-area casino to convert the cash to chips.

It was not the first time the man, later identified as 32-year-old Mohammad Riyadul Hoque, had walked into one of Winnipeg’s provincial government-owned casinos with a bag full of cash.

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