Texas: Authorities ramp up efforts to stop illegal gambling

Authorities ramp up efforts to stop illegal gambling
By Philip Jankowski
Killeen Daily Herald

Bell County officials are taking aim at sweepstakes machines found in some local convenience stores and other possible illegal gambling operations.

"We're looking at what they're doing and what goes on in these places, and we think it is gambling," said First Assistant County Attorney Jim Nichols.

Sweepstakes machines resemble slot machines but purport to follow state guidelines that allow customers to win cash prizes above limits set by Texas gambling laws.

The county attorney's office is in the process of sending out cease-and-desist letters to businesses that operate the machines. So far, Nichols said law enforcement officials are only targeting machines in Temple.

Temple police Sgt. Brad Hunt said the department has an active investigation into the operations but did not comment further.

Bell County has seen an increase in gambling arrests recently. Twelve charges of misdemeanor gambling have been filed this year; five were filed in 2011, according to the county attorney's office.

Gatesville police officials closed a business Feb. 11 and seized suspected gambling equipment, but police in Copperas Cove and in other areas of Coryell County have not found any illegal operations.

Waco experienced a spate of eight-liner arrests last year, including a man who allegedly accepted Lone Star cards as compensation for entry. But there have been no arrests this year, said a Waco police spokesman.

In Killeen, arrests have resulted from what police are calling the operation of eight-liners, or video slot machines. Police arrested and charged three people in mid-March in connection to an alleged illegal gambling room near W.S. Young Drive. Police seized 15 eight-liners from the business.

No purchase to play

Texas law states that any game of chance requiring money for entry cannot award a prize valued at more than $5.

While games such as slot machines and eight-liners have an infinite amount of outcomes and randomly decide winners, sweepstakes have finite endings, winners and prizes.

To participate in sweepstakes games, people aren't required to make a purchase or pay to play. Instead, customers either buy a promotional item, such as beer, or pay a fee in the form of a cash donation to a charitable cause outlined by the business.

Sweepstakes entry requires a post-marked letter to the business running the games, with various limitations preventing people from gaining large amounts of free entries. The sweepstakes also have set start and end dates as well as finite amounts of winners and prizes, which must be determined before the sweepstakes begin.

But Nichols sees problems with these kind of sweepstakes guidelines, he said. "What's to keep these people from saying we have a billion entries or even a trillion?"

Organized gambling

Criminal charges related to gambling are divided into two charges: keeping a gambling place and possession of gambling equipment. Both crimes are class-A misdemeanors.

But Bell County prosecutors have used money laundering and organized crime statutes to elevate charges to felonies.

In the cases against Ban Sa Vong, 46, Hung Viet He, 42, and Hien Xieu La, 57, the district attorney's office accused the defendants of engaging in organized crime. The three were arrested after Killeen police closed Tournament Gaming Center on March 19.

Bell County prosecutor Mike Waldman said when three or more people work together to commit an illegal activity, then they qualify for organized crime charges, the charge is a state jail felony with a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

Violators also may be subject to money laundering charges if they are found to have earned more than $1,500 through the gambling operations. The charge is also a state jail felony but can be elevated when earnings top $20,000 and again when more than $100,000 is seized.

Killeen police used the money laundering code to arrest Pil Nam Salisbury, 66, and Sang Rae Lee, 41, on felony charges Oct. 5. Officers seized more than $11,000 from a business and bank accounts associated with two businesses containing suspected eight-liners. Both were charged with money laundering of more than $1,500 but less than $20,000.

Lee pleaded guilty to possession of a gambling device Feb. 28 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Salisbury's case has not been resolved.