Police in Florida Shut Down Four Illegal Gambling Venues
In May, five individuals were taken into custody by Florida officers during a raid on four illicit gaming establishments in Port St. Lucie. According to law enforcement, every one of these legitimate establishments had been hosting illegal bolita games. The term ‘bolita’ is of Spanish origin, referring to "little ball."
Bolita is a type of lottery, if you may, which has a historical presence in Florida and Cuba. It functions similarly to the US government-run lottery except for one significant difference - these aren't connected to any government-run lottery system. The winning numbers were based on New York State Lottery stats.
The arrested suspects were: Bryant Francisco, Chimy Ismero, Josiane LaPointe, Big John Petion, and Revelyn Tejeda-Serrata, according to WPEC, a Flordian TV station. All of them were jailed by the Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD) on charges of lottery violations.
Following these arrests, they each posted bail and were freed from custody. Their cases have been handed over to local prosecutors.
The court approved these raids after a two-month-long investigation into the city’s illegal gambling sector. The PSLPD received a tip off regarding potential illegal gambling activity at numerous local businesses, prompting them to start their inquiry.
To investigate these allegations, the PSLPD employed an undercover detective from the West Palm Beach Police Department.
In a statement to WPEC, the PSLPD Chief Richard Del Toro explained, “He gambled at each property. People would pick numbers, they would number these balls, put them in a plastic bag, and just pull them out, like you’d see normally done with the lotto machine on TV, so it's a game of chance.”
After reviewing the gathered intel, a judge granted search warrants for the raids which involved PSLPD officers, a SWAT team, the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, and other legal officials.
The designated businesses were:
- Cale Marketplace
- Malaika Caribbean Restaurant
- Frienz Mini Mart
- Balla Unisex Salon
The businesses received citations for illegal gambling, unlawful usage of the premises, and business tax receipt violations. If found guilty, each one could be fined up to $15K.
At the moment, it seems no links exist among the four businesses. PSLPD initiated the investigations following a lead that these businesses were involved in illegal gambling. Officers seized roughly $10K in cash during these operations.
Del Toro informed WPEC that further investigations are underway. "It definitely makes me think that there are more," he stated, "I mean, just the odds that there are four separate businesses operating the same type of illegal gambling makes me believe this is probably a problem throughout the city that we're going to have to look into."
"These are legitimate businesses that are running this scam" he stressed, "the payout amount isn't guaranteed, and sometimes the store owners are holding it back."
In a separate interview with Treasure Coast Newspapers, Del Toro shared his thoughts, "These are legitimate businesses that are doing this, but they're operating this illegal scam. It's unregulated, it's illegal. The payout amount is not guaranteed, and sometimes is being withheld by the store owners."
With the recent targets, it seems the authorities are trying to weed out such illicit gaming operations.
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Source: www.casino.org
