Police broke up a high-stakes poker ring in Long View on Thursday, seizing cash, poker chips, cards and poker tables.

Officials from six agencies, including the Alcohol Law Enforcement, were involved in the raid at 2247 U.S. 70 in Long View, according to the Long View Police Department. Following up on tips from the community, police began investigating the gambling activity at the home a year ago. Until recently police did not think they had enough evidence for a search warrant.

Nineteen people were at the residence when law enforcement went to the house last week, according to police. They were playing a high-stakes game of Texas hold ‘em. Long View police said $55,000 in cash was seized in the raid.

No one has been charged. Police are still looking into what charges may apply. The home is a rental property, police say. Police are investigating whether the rental agency knew about the gambling. The person renting the home was there at the time of the raid, police say. Police say they are trying to determine who was running the gambling operation.

In addition to gambling, alcohol was also being sold illegally at the home, police said. Police officials said possible charges they’re looking at include gambling, possession of game tables and allowing gaming in a house of public entertainment.

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The banking industry is cheering a fresh assault on the 2006 federal crackdown on Internet gambling by an unlikely duo: House Financial Services panel Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Frank has teamed up with the libertarian-minded Paul, who crusaded against big government during his recent White House bid, on legislation to block that law by forbidding federal officials from writing rules to implement it.

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Eleven people were arrested in a high-stakes gambling bust in northwest Harris County.

Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on west road near yearling this afternoon, following a two month undercover investigation.

Authorities say they found a room full of card tables and about 80 customers playing Texas Hold ‘em. And they weren’t playing ordinary poker matches. Thousands of dollars were at stake in the sophisticated operation.

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The first wave of card players charged in a recent high-stakes poker roundup pleaded guilty Monday, but another legal battle might be brewing over as much as $90,000 worth of cash and belongings seized during the investigation.

Martin Orlando Reyes, whose Hanahan home was raided by sheriff’s deputies April 4, was one of 19 people to plead guilty in Charleston County magistrate court to one misdemeanor count of unlawful gaming. In exchange, authorities agreed to dismiss additional counts against them. Magistrate David Coker ordered most to pay fines of between $154 and $257. Some 46 others still await a court date in the case.

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Regulations to enforce an Internet gambling ban would be blocked under a bill introduced this week by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

“These regulations are impossible to implement without placing a significant burden on the payments system and financial institutions,” Frank said in a statement on Friday.

Frank’s bill, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was introduced Thursday and would prohibit the Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve from proposing regulations to enforce the Internet gambling ban enacted in 2006.

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Washington, DC—House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and senior Financial Services Committee member Ron Paul (R-TX) have introduced legislation to prohibit the federal government from issuing regulations called for in the called for in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.  The legislation, H.R. 5767, will forbid the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation that requires the financial services industry to identify and block internet gambling transactions.

“These regulations are impossible to implement without placing a significant burden on the payments system and financial institutions, and while I do disagree with the underlying objective of the Act, I believe that even those who agree with it ought to be concerned about the regulations’ impact,” said Rep. Frank.

“The ban on Internet gambling infringes upon two freedoms that are important to many Americans: the ability to do with their money as they see fit, and the freedom from government interference with the Internet. The regulations and underlying bill also force financial institutions to act as law enforcement officers. This is another pernicious trend that has accelerated in the aftermath of the Patriot Act, the deputization of private businesses to perform intrusive enforcement and surveillance functions that the federal government is unwilling to perform on its own,” said Rep. Paul.

Specifically, at issue is the fact that the regulations, like the underlying legislation, fail to define the term “unlawful internet gambling,” leaving it to each financial institution to reconcile conflicting state and federal laws, court decisions and inconsistent Department of Justice interpretation, when determining whether to process a transaction.  Furthermore, some of the information needed to make this determination would likely be unavailable to banks, either because customers or financial institutions in foreign jurisdictions are unwilling or unable to provide it.  At the hearing, the regulators themselves admitted that there are substantial problems in crafting regulations to implement the UIGEA that does not have a substantial adverse effect on the efficiency of the nation’s payment system.  

Chairman Frank and Congressman Paul opposed the UIGEA, and the two have been working on legislation, H.R. 2046 that would license and regulate online gaming.  However, it was clear at the hearing that the regulations are unworkable for the financial services industry, and this bill would, therefore prohibit their implementation.  

On Wednesday, April 2, the DIMP Subcommittee held a hearing “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden Without Benefit?” to examine the regulations issued last year by the Federal Reserve and Treasury on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which garnered more than 200 comment letters. 

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State legislators are moving toward changing the state constitution to demand a public vote before any gambling for profit can be legalized in Alaska.

The idea is to blunt an initiative that’s set to appear on the August statewide ballot. The initiative would create a commission with the power to authorize gambling — from lotteries to casino games — without the Legislature’s approval.

The state House voted 33-6 in favor of the constitutional amendment this week. It goes to the Senate, where Judiciary Committee Chairman Hollis French thinks it has a real shot at passing even with just four days left in the legislative session.

If the Senate does pass the constitutional amendment in time and the governor signs it, the idea would go to voters for approval in the November election. That’s presumably before the gaming commission could get set up and act.

“I want this to go into the constitution, that people will always have a say,” said Anchorage Democratic Rep. Harry Crawford, a longtime foe of expanding gambling who sponsored the measure with Eagle River Republican Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom.

Currently, it is up to the Legislature to decide whether to allow gambling beyond the limited number of pull-tabs, bingo, ice classics, pools, raffles and the like that are now legal to benefit nonprofits. Recent years have seen fights in the Legislature over whether to expand what’s allowed to include video poker, a casino, lotteries or card rooms. In the end, the Legislature refused to do so.

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A 14-year veteran of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of running a gambling operation that hosted card games seven days a week and occasionally raked in as much as $100,000 per night.

Lee Edward Morris, 38, was arrested by other sheriff’s officers at a commercial location, 1063 E. 3300 South, along with four other alleged operators and five people described as “gamblers,” Lt. Paul Jaroscak said.

Jaroscak said Thursday detectives initially had no idea that Morris – who is assigned to the Metro Gang Unit – was involved.

After learning Morris was part of the operation, “we continued the investigation until we were ready to make arrests, and that happened last night,” Jaroscak said.

Morris was booked into the Davis County jail on suspicion of ongoing criminal activity, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Four other alleged operators were also arrested on similar felony counts. They are Angela McKown, 24, Lucas Lefevre, 33, Dennis E. Polster, 37, and Shawn Thompson, 33.
    
The five gamblers were cited for misdemeanor gambling and released.

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Five Carteret County residents have been cited on misdemeanor charges after police uncovered an alleged gambling operation at the site of a Morehead City business.

Police seized approximately $7,000 from the individuals as well as a poker table, chips and cards, and ledgers that indicated there was more than a friendly game of poker going on, said Morehead City Police Department Maj. Richard Abell.

“This had been going on for some time,” he said. “We seized ledgers indicating names and either money won or monies owed.”

A poker game was under way Wednesday when authorities conducted a search at O’Malley’s Pub and Grill on Arendell Street in Morehead City, Abell said. The alleged gambling operation was going on in a building detached from the main restaurant and used by the business for storage, he said.

Abell said the gambling operation was uncovered during a separate investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the two agencies conducted a search of the business at the same time.

Information from NCIS was not immediately available.

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