Thousands of miles from the busy streets of Dhaka in Bangladesh, there's a Glitzi

Casino called the Saler. It sits on the waterfront Manila, capital of the Philippines.

I've been there. I've visited to research this story and it's an amazing location. It's

a big white, stucco building surrounded by the flat docklands. It looks like a giant tooth sticking

from the ground. And back in 2016, the week after computer hackers set out to steal a billion

dollars from Bangladesh Bank, Robbie Lynn is in the middle of his shift in one of the

VIP rooms on the first floor of that building. Robbie is a VIP host and it's his job to look

after the casino's richest customers. And the last few days have been absolutely crazy.

It was the lunar new year, Asia's biggest holiday and the busiest time of the year for

the casino. Just as things look like they're getting back to normal. Half a dozen

guys speaking Chinese walk into Robbie's VIP area but there's something odd about them.

So their appearance just really ordinary, the way their dress didn't make them seem genuine.

They just didn't look like people who had lots of money.

Not like the kind of people Robbie's used to serving with their fancy cars and designer clothes.

Robbie says that once a client pitched up with a deposit of 200 million Philippines pesos,

that's 10 million dollars. And as you can imagine when you're playing with that kind of money,

you expect top service.

The VIP room is like a luxurious house. There is a lounge area, a dining table, a mini bar with

food and beverages on demand. They have their own bathroom. So everything feels really special.

You get the privacy, you get the service, you get the personalized attention,

that you feel you deserve. You know, I want a bottle of Hennessy XL and you'll get it.

Mohamed Cohen is a casino expert and editor at large of Inside Asian Gaming magazine.

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