Savannah casino boat investigation recovers $1 million in illegal gambling

Posted: December 12, 2013

 

Savannah-Chatham police Interim Chief Julie Tolbert displays a $244,875 check Thursday the department received as part of a joint-investigation into an illegal gambling operation. Marcus E. Howard/Savannah Morning News

 

By Marcus E. Howard

A joint investigation of a Savannah River casino boat recovered more than $1 million in illegal proceeds, authorities reported Thursday.

The investigation, which involved federal and local law enforcement agencies, targeted gambling aboard the Diamond Casino Cruise. Three men were indicted by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty to prohibition of illegal gambling businesses.

In June, Gregory Sicilia was sentenced to five years probation, six months home confinement with electronic monitoring, 40 hours of community service and a $100 special assessment.

John Sternberg, a boat operator, received three years probation, six months home confinement with electronic monitoring, 40 hours of community service, a $2,000 fine, $100 special assessment and ordered by a judge to earn a GED within two years.

Another operator, Jeffery Thompson, was sentenced to three years probation, 40 hours of community service, a $2,000 fine, $100 special assessment and ordered to earn a GED within two years.

The investigation, according to police, dates back to 2010.

On Thursday, members of the Southeast Coastal Border Enforcement Security Task Force gathered at Savannah-Chatham police headquarters to make the announcement and present Interim Chief Julie Tolbert with her department’s portion of the seized money in the form of a check for $244,875.

The department has a full-time investigator, who at times worked undercover, assigned to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, which was the lead agency.

A decision about what to do with the department’s funds has not been made, but it’s likely to be used to buy police equipment or vehicles, said Tolbert.

Following a tip from the Coast Guard, investigators found the casino boat had violated gambling laws, which require such vessels to conduct gambling at least 12 miles from shore in international waters. The Diamond Casino Cruise had allegedly operated slot machines and table games just off shore and sometimes while barely away from the dock, according to the ICE Homeland Security Investigations.

Brock Nicholson, special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia and the Carolinas, said operators of the casino boat “flaunted” their enterprise.

http://savannahnow.com/latest-news/2013-12-12/p-nodehl1savannah-boat-investigation-uncovers-1-million-illegal-glambling-p

Several Georgia slot machines give illegal payouts

Wonder how much this costs to monitor a small number of Slots at convenience stores?

Several Rome slot machines give illegal payouts, police say

Police were at a Marathon gas station at 2039 Maple Road

on Monday morning as part of a gambling investigation.

(Lauren Jones, RN-T)

Mar 26, 2013

ROME, Ga. -- Authorities in Floyd County are investigating possible illegal payouts from slot machines at seven service stations in the area.

Complaints had been filed for quite some time, so forces were joined on Monday between the Rome Police Department, Floyd County Police Department, Floyd County Sheriff's Office and Floyd County District Attorney's Office.

The Rome-News Tribune spoke to Floyd County Sheriff Tim Burkhalter, who acknowledged that having slot machines in a gas station is legal, but a cash payout is not.

"This is something we feel is a scourge in our community," Burkhalter said. "This is not a victimless crime. This is the first sweep."

Nikki Raj told Rome-News Tribune that her family owns the Marathon station of 2039 Maple Street, and she was not worried about the investigation.

She said her family runs the Marathon's slot machines according to Georgia law, and that any customer who won playing the slot machine would use their prize as store credit to buy merchandise.

According to Rome-New Tribune, other gas stations that have been investigated include the BP at 3486 Martha Berry Highway, the Citgo 1928 Shorter Avenue, the Marathon at 2039 Maple Road, the Twinkie's Food Mart on Calhoun Road and two others.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/285118/40/Several-Rome-slot-machines-give-illegal-payouts-police-say

Georgia: Conservatives fear gambling vote heralds culture shift

Conservatives fear gambling vote heralds culture shift

By Greg Bluestein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It began with a wave of Georgia communities approving Sunday alcohol sales over the past year. That's when the Georgia Christian Coalition first began worrying the state was on the cusp of a cultural shift.

FILE

 

Few expect the long-held opposition to gambling in the Legislature to erode, and some credit the victory to the HOPE scholarship's financial woes.

 

 

Then last Tuesday's vote may have confirmed it. A narrow majority of the state's Republican voters voiced support what was once unthinkable: Casino gambling.

"One of us is out of step. Either it's the Christian Coalition or the folks that do the voting," said Jerry Luquire, the group's president. He's resigned to the belief that he's on the losing side of that equation.

"The public had a chance to speak. And the results speak for themselves."

The non-binding vote has left social conservatives and analysts puzzling over whether the surprising GOP show of support for casino gambling to fund education was a sign of a lasting shift or a fleeting blip on the radar. Far from the blowout that many expected, a slim majority of Republican voters answered "yes" to the question.

Few expect the vote to erode the long-held opposition to gambling in the Legislature, and some credit the victory to the HOPE scholarship's financial woes. After Tuesday's vote, Gov. Nathan Deal said again he wouldn't support casinos in Georgia, and pointedly reminded it would take a much bigger margin — a two-thirds vote from legislators and then majority approval among all voters — to clear the way for full-fledged Las Vegas-style casinos to take root here.

"I think you will not see that happen," he said.

But the outcome, the first statewide question on gambling since voters approved the lottery in 1992, is the latest in a string of recent news that has buoyed gambling supporters.

Developer Dan O'Leary has traveled the state investing time and treasure to build support for a $1 billion gambling resort featuring video lottery terminals. Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers became the highest-profile advocate of expanding gambling over the summer. And Deal endorsed online lottery ticket sales last month to bolster the cash-strapped HOPE scholarship.

The developments have started to worry some social conservatives. State GOP chair Sue Everhart, who is staunchly against O'Leary's proposal, is also peeved at the governor's support for online lottery sales, which she calls an "awful" idea.

"What's to stop a kid from logging in as their parents and then losing money? I think there's no control over it," said Everhart. "I think online gambling is as bad as it gets."

Some other social conservatives hoped that a resounding "no" vote on the question would end the debate over expanding gambling for good, and even supporters like O'Leary hedged their bets by publicly predicting defeat. But what is certain after Tuesday's vote is that the debate is far from over.

"It's not about to end anytime soon. You've got to face reality. People are going to Biloxi and they're going up to Cherokee and these tourism dollars are going elsewhere," said Everhart. She said she doesn't think a full-fledged casino will be built here any time soon, but that the vote sent the signal that "if we had a choice between video gambling and casinos, we'd much rather have a casino."

Just as telling was the muted reaction to Rogers' decision to vote "yes" on the question. The Woodstock Republican, who defeated a challenger in Tuesday's contest, said he believed "people should be allowed to govern themselves until they violate someone else's rights."

"When you have a Republican leader, Rogers, openly supporting a change like this, you know how the culture of the GOP is changing," said Kerwin Swint, a Kennesaw State University political scientist.

O'Leary said his plan for video lottery terminals, which are like computerized slot machines, wouldn't need legislative approval and would funnel $350 million each year into the HOPE scholarship.

Unable to keep up with rising tuition and swelling enrollment, the lottery-funded program no longer covers full tuition for most students.

"The cultural shift took place not just recently, but years back," said O'Leary, who is seeking approval for his project by the year's end. "But the politicians of Georgia are just now catching up to where the voters of Georgia are. And that's because there's never been an avenue for elected officials to hear from their constituents on this issue."

The "yes" vote won by a margin of about 5,000 votes — out of nearly 1 million votes cast — fueled by support across parts of metro Atlanta, Columbus and Athens as well as stretches of north and west Georgia. [Hardly a landslide!]

It lost in Macon, Savannah and Augusta, as well as most of south Georgia. It also was defeated by a few hundred votes in Gwinnett County, where O'Leary would build his complex.
[NIMBY! Polling indicates that opposition to a Slot Barn increases within one's community.]


The vote came after a spate of cities and counties across Georgia voted to allow Sunday alcohol sales, despite concerns from social conservative critics it would sully the Sabbath.

Expect more politicians to come forward with their support for video gambling, O'Leary said.

"There are a number of elected officials and organizations that have been quietly supportive of our cause that this vote may give them the courage to come out and be public about it now because they see it's the will of the people," he said.

Some social conservative opponents of gambling urged residents not to read too much into the vote.

"Whenever you tie something good to something bad, it makes even vice more attractive than it appears," said Tim Echols, a Republican member of the Public Service Commission who is also leading an anti-gambling initiative. "That is what has happened here."

He tried to put a positive spin on it, saying he doubted that it will change the minds of any legislators who oppose expanding gambling.

"I had hoped we could soundly defeat the measure and send a clear message, but 50 percent is the next best thing."

Others were much more fatalistic.

"We cannot hide our heads in the sand. That's what people say they want. The question was very clear. There was no ambiguity," said Luquire. "It provides cover for the legions in Georgia that want gambling, and I think it will come. I see it as a forgone conclusion."

He took a deep breath, before adding: "I think even now folks are polishing their dice."

 

 

http://www.ajc.com/news/conservatives-fear-gambling-vote-1490992.html

Cuttino: Of gambling and God

Cuttino: Of gambling and God
Posted: April 15, 2012
By BOB CUTTINO

Recently Americans turned out in record numbers to buy lottery tickets from grocery stores, convenience stores, barbershops, etc., in hopes of winning the biggest lottery payout the world has ever seen, $640 million. Guess what they spent for those lottery tickets. $1.46 billion! Most people would love to “get rich quick” and dream of all they would do if it happened.

Someone said to me once, “The Bible doesn’t say anything about gambling being wrong.” Well, the Bible doesn’t say explicitly “Don’t buy lottery tickets or wager on ball games or play cards or roll dice” but it is vividly clear about the attitude to get a lot for a little or gain wealth without working honestly for it, and most overlook the commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.”

“Coveting” is wanting something you did not return honest labor to attain, “to have an inordinate desire for something belonging to another” (Britannica Dictionary). The Bible tells us coveting is idolatry. In Paul’s letter to Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:11), he says “I wrote to you not to associate with any who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or robber…” In Colossians 3:5, Paul says “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you; fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

Solomon says in Proverbs 13:11, “Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle but he who gathers little by little shall increase it.” Solomon says at the end of Proverbs “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” But something within us, like the lead man in “Fiddler on the Roof,” makes us reason with God saying “If I were a rich man...” asking God for riches. We want the shortcut of winning the lottery or sweepstakes. To be rich may be a noble wish if that wealth is to be obtained by honest labor or selling a good product. Rich people can do great things — Carnegie’s libraries and efforts at world-wide peace, Rockefeller’s hospitals and universities, the charitable gifts of the wealthy for health and education and culture — all show good things rich men can do. But it refers to wealth nobly achieved, not the stroke of luck.

I worked for three years as psychiatric assistant in a mental hospital while in graduate school. We had to deal often with those victims of addiction — alcohol, drugs, tobacco and even gambling. Gambling can be as addictive as the other dreaded addictions. Gambling can make slaves out of otherwise good, healthy people. I have been a minister for 62 years and was called on often by families where gambling addiction was tearing up a marriage and a home. Gambling is not an innocent pastime.

The money spent on this last lottery could have provided 238,000 Americans with food for a year, treat 685,000 average U. S. households to gasoline for a full year, rehire teachers and repair many bridges. Get wise. Walk with the wise. Desire honest riches, but not at someone’s expense.

Why Lotteries Are a Bad Bet for State Budgets

Why Lotteries Are a Bad Bet for State Budgets
By Pat Garofalo, ThinkProgress
01 April 12

he jackpot for the upcoming Mega Millions lottery drawing has grown to a whopping $640 million. This sky-high total has some state legislators hoping for a big payday via the tax bill that would come from one of their residents taking home the prize. "I'd love it if a Rhode Islander wins," said Rep. Helio Melo, the chairman of his state House's Finance Committee.

If a Rhode Islander were lucky enough to win, the state's take would be more than $20 million. But the fact that state legislators are giddy at the prospect of a lottery-financed tax windfall merely shows how foolhardy it is that states depend on lottery revenue at all. As Elizabeth Winslow McAuliffe pointed out in Public Integrity, "while lotteries were initially perceived as fiscal saviors, they have not generated the anticipated revenue." Many states earmark their lottery revenue for a specific purpose, most often education, but it turns out that that formula isn't workable:

The educational "bonus" appears to be nonexistent. Miller and Pierce (1997) studied the short- and long-term effect of education lotteries. They found that lottery states did indeed increase per-capita spending on education during the lottery's early years. However, after some time these states actually decreased their overall spending on education. In contrast, states without lotteries increased education spending over time. In fact, nonlottery states spend, on average, 10 percent more of their budgets on education than lottery states. (Gearey 1997).

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission has found that "there is reason to doubt if earmarked lottery revenues in fact have the effect of increasing funds available for the specified purpose." The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government also found that "new gambling operations that are intended to pay for normal increases in general state spending may add to, rather than ease, state budget imbalances."

As Citizens for Tax Justice put it, "it becomes a case of diminishing returns as neighboring states introduce new and better lotto games. Then, states either lose business to another state or hit a ceiling for how many lotto tickets a population can buy. That is, as a revenue source, it's a short or medium term quick fix but not a long term solution."

And then there's the simple fact that the lottery is, in essence, a regressive tax, with about a 38 percent tax rate (a rate usually reserved for the very richest Americans). According to the Bloomberg News "Sucker Index," residents of Georgia are doing the most damage to their own finances through the lottery, followed by residents of Massachusetts.

BA residents petition City Council to fight casino plans

BA residents petition City Council to fight casino plans
By SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer

BROKEN ARROW - Residents flooded the City Council chambers Tuesday night to voice their intense opposition to a planned Indian casino in their neighborhood.


Lori Pettus said residents were "completely blind-sided" when they read a Tuesday Tulsa World story in which a city official confirmed that the Kialegee Tribal Town was planning to build the Red Clay Casino there.

"I believe that the citizens of Broken Arrow and our Broken Arrow government must fight back, even in the face of this barrier of sovereign immunity," Pettus said. "I am asking that the City Council immediately arrange a public forum where citizens can express concerns and ask questions of the secretive operatives bankrolling this gambling enterprise."

Such actions could include petitioning the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Indian Gaming Commission, he said.

Cawley said the city should determine whether the Kialegee Tribal Town, a branch of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, has any tribal jurisdiction over the land in question and whether the land has been approved for gaming.

The property is at the southwest corner of Olive Avenue (129th East Avenue) and Florence Street (111th Street), just north of the Creek Turnpike.

Pettus said she thinks the casino would be a menace to the community.

"Casinos attract desperate and decadent people - prostitution, drug dealing, burglary, drunk driving, organized crime," she said.

The casino will be built adjacent to neighborhoods and a prekindergarten that is being built up the street, Cawley said.

Resident Robert Martinek said he thinks the casino would have adverse effects on property values and would increase the city's costs for providing police, fire, sewer and street improvements.

"My request would be to the mayor and City Council that we do everything we can to vet the legality of what this tribe is wanting to do," Martinek said.

Lester said the city would "move forward and get some answers either from federal regulators or whoever to make sure your concerns are addressed as best we can."

Councilman Craig Thurmond said he had discussed the issue with U.S. Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., and that the congressman told him residents could contact him about their concerns.

Attorney Luis Figueredo said by phone Tuesday that the casino investors, for whom he is working, are Florence Development Partners. That group consists of the tribe and the property owners, which land records list as Marcella Giles and Wynema Capps.

Figueredo would not comment on how the casino is being financed but said it would be built on allotted land, which has the same legal standing as land in trust.

The land was allotted in 1903 to Tyler Burgess, a full-blood Muscogee (Creek) who is on the Dawes Rolls. Giles and Capps are Burgess' granddaughters.

Florence Development Partners, a domestic limited-liability company, was formed on April 5, records show. The registered agent is Vicki Sousa of Langley, the tribe's attorney.

A compact between the state and the Kialegee Tribal Town was approved on July 19 for Class III gaming on Indian lands.

Figueredo said the tribe does not have any other casinos. News reports over the past decade indicate that the tribe met resistance in Georgia and Texas when attempting to go into the casino business in those states.

Most recently it was reported that a developer was proposing to sell land to the tribe in Georgia and that the tribe was considering moving its headquarters there if the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved a trust application.

But Figueredo said the tribe did not authorize the trust application, a statement that could not be immediately confirmed with BIA officials.

Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, gaming is allowed on land in "Indian Country," and allotted land would fit that definition, Figueredo said.

The tribe plans to open in March a temporary facility that would consist of about eight to 12 prefabricated buildings with slot machines.

A permanent building would be completed around the beginning of 2013.

Mayor Mike Lester prefaced Pettus' remarks to the council by saying that the plot in question is either on restricted land or land held in trust. Records show that it is restricted land, which also is referred to as allotted land.

"In either case, the city has no jurisdiction," he said.

Jared Cawley, a resident who is an attorney, said it disappoints him that city councilors think they have no authority to take any action.

"I can assure you - you are not helpless," he said. "There are actions you can take to stop this from happening."

Editorial: Casino gambling will need careful look

Editorial: Casino gambling will need careful look

The mere fact that the Georgia Lottery Corporation commissioned a study of the potential for casino gambling in Georgia is an indication that the issue might surface sooner rather than later in the state legislature.

That conjecture is only strengthened by the fact that the study, reported last week in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, concludes that three casinos — one each in Savannah, Atlanta and Jekyll Island — equipped with a total of 10,000 video lottery terminals could generate $1 billion in state revenue by 2014.

That $1 billion would represent nearly 5 percent of the current state budget, a windfall that’s certain to catch the attention of lawmakers who’ve been dealing with declining state revenues for the past few years (although recent months have seen comparative upticks in tax receipts) as the economy has languished in an ongoing downturn.

Of course, if discussions of casino gambling did gain some traction in next year’s legislative session, that enthusiasm for having a relatively easily obtainable source of new revenue would be tempered by the socially conservative forces holding sway with much of the Republican-dominated state legislature that would oppose any extension of gambling in the state beyond the Georgia Lottery, although the libertarian argument against governmental delineation of what citizens should be allowed to do might also enter the debate.

Outside of those philosophical arguments, however, there may be some reason for lawmakers — if they do take a look at casino gambling — to proceed with care.

Here, for example, is some back-of-the-envelope noodling to compare the 2010 general fund budgets in three states where casino gambling was adopted in the 1990s, and where proceeds are designated for the general fund, with the revenue generated by casino gambling in 2010:

• In Delaware, the $243.12 million in casino gambling revenue in 2010 represented 7.8 percent of the general fund budget of $3.1 billion.

• In Rhode Island, casino gambling receipts of $296.3 million represented 3.8 percent of the $7.8 billion general fund budget.

• In New Mexico, casino gambling revenue to the state totaled $64.3 million, just 1.16 percent of the general fund budget.

Admittedly, none of the above examples are statistically rigorous, but they do provide some suggestion that casino gambling revenues aren’t necessarily going to be the panacea for declining tax revenues that some legislators might expect.

And in fact, a 2009 study by the Rockefeller Institute, which tracks and analyzes state fiscal conditions and tax policies, references just that sort of problem with gambling dollars.

The report notes that the “historical tendency for revenues from existing gambling operations to grow at a significantly slower pace than other state revenues may hold important lessons for states as policymakers consider further expansion of casinos, racinos, and other gambling activities. Expenditures on education and other programs will generally grow more rapidly than gambling revenue over time. Thus, new gambling operations that are intended to pay for normal increases in general state spending may add to, rather than ease, long-term budget imbalances.”

We are, of course, a long way from any concrete consideration of establishing casino gambling in Georgia. But if, as it appears, that day will soon be upon us, lawmakers should resolve to take a careful look at it before taking any action.

Georgia: Negotiations continuing in case of illegal casinos

Negotiations continuing in case of illegal casinos
By Joe Johnson - Athens Banner-Herald

Attorneys for a Winder businessman and three area social clubs that ran illegal casinos continue to negotiate with federal prosecutors before they are sentenced.

Sentencing was scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Athens.

Page Pate, who represents the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge 262 in Winder and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2872 in Athens, said he and prosecutors hadn’t yet reached an agreement on how much restitution his clients will have to make, if any.

Those social clubs and a Moose lodge in Elberton pleaded guilty in May to one count each of violating federal gambling laws.

Raya Gonchikar, owner of Big Don’s and the Universal Game Room in Winder that leased about 30 gambling machines from Athens-based Heritage Amusement Co., pleaded guilty to one gambling count the same day.

They admitted that they conspired with Heritage Amusement to rent video poker machines from the amusement company for illegal gambling and split the profits with the company.

So far, seven people and the three social clubs have pleaded guilty to federal gambling charges as part of an ongoing investigation.

No one affiliated with Heritage Amusement has been charged, but defendants entered into plea bargains in which they agreed to cooperate with prosecutors; some attorneys said their clients already have testified before a federal grand jury.

U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal has sentenced five businessmen each to one year on probation and levied fines of $2,000 or less.

By entering into agreements, the convenience store owners avoided maximum penalties of five years in prison and fines of $250,000.

The government could try to recoup some or all of the money that was made through the illegal use of video poker machines, which is why Pate said he continues to negotiate with prosecutors.

“If their argument is that money was made unlawfully with the machines, the government’s position is some or all of that money should be forfeited,” Pate said. “I’m not sure that’s going to happen in our case, we’re just trying to reach an agreement.”

The sentencing hearing for his clients has been rescheduled for Sept. 7, Pate said.

Gambling Embezzlement at Fort Gillem, Ga.Crime Lab

Beyond missteps, military crime lab roils with discontent
By MARISA TAYLOR
McClatchy Newspapers

The military's premier crime lab should be a place of sober scientific research, but lately it seems more like the set of a soap opera consumed with scandal and intrigue.

In less than four years, at least six internal investigations have been launched and six complaints filed against managers. The accusations and counter-accusations include racism, sexual harassment, assault and fraud.

Amid the upheaval and finger-pointing, a lab analyst was convicted of embezzling almost $70,000 from a professional association to pay for his gambling addiction.

At one point, misconduct by an employee prompted an FBI search of one of the lab's offices. The investigation resulted in the arrest of Allen Southmayd, a 63-year-old handwriting expert.

Southmayd had a serious gambling problem, court records indicate. After he joined the lab in 2000, he began to write checks to himself from a professional organization where he served as treasurer. He spent the money from the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners at casinos. In 2007, the group caught on and Southmayd resigned from the lab. He pleaded guilty to embezzling in federal court and was sentenced to probation.

(Michael Doyle and Tish Wells contributed to this report.)

Race to the bottom

Watching the irrational hysteria of states' legislators (including those in Massachusetts) deluding themselves into believing that Slot Barns are the fiscal solution to all ills of their own creation, promoting some worthy cause, generally education as the recipient of revenues, Georgia appears prepared to follow that path.

Recent studies indicate that patrons of Slot Barns are progressively more local, not tourists, in essence, sucking discretionary income out of the local economy and cannibalizing jobs.

Vacationing families carefully avoid the sleaze gambling offers, an expensive discovery Las Vegas made.

Surrounded by the Gambling Madness, this was included in a recent article:


The Christian Coalition has already come out in opposition to more types of gaming. Its president, Jerry Luquire, issued a statement Thursday blasting Stephens' idea.

"I am so tired of being in a checkout seeing gamblers use cash to buy alcohol, cigarettes and gambling devices (they do go together) and using my tax money in food-stamp cards to buy snacks and groceries," he said.

Luguire has an alternative proposal that no one be permitted to collect a lottery prize for two years after receiving any form of government assistance.


Gambling deliberately targets those who can least afford it.

2 officers quit over corruption allegations

2 Pelham officers quit over corruption allegations


PELHAM, Ga. -- Two police officers in Pelham have quit their jobs rather than face charges that they were involved in illegal gambling.

Pelham Police Investigator Rod Williams told WALB-TV that Capt. Linda Coliman and Sgt. Mary Johnson decided to resign their posts. It spared them possible prosecution over allegations that they worked security at an illegal gambling operation outside a gas station.

Coliman and Johnson were not charged with a crime, and they denied wrongdoing. A man who answered the phone at Coliman's home said she [sic] didn't want to talk. A phone listing for Johnson could not be located.

The case came to light last month when Pelham police arrested four men for running a gambling operation that looked like a mobile carnival.

Georgia: Democracy for sale

Donors to Deal, Barnes have interest in casino

A little more than a year ago, backers of a proposed casino at Underground Atlanta quietly acknowledged that they weren’t going to get anywhere as long as opponent Gov. Sonny Perdue was in office.

Now they're pouring money into both sides of this year’s governor’s race, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of business giving from July 1 through Sept. 30, based on the candidates' first campaign finance filings of the general election.

The analysis found that the Underground gambling group -- including developers Dan O'Leary, John Aderhold and their businesses, employees and family members -- gave $36,600 to Republican Nathan Deal in the past few months, and another $30,900 to Democrat Roy Barnes, in a sign that the dormant gambling issue may be poised to come back.