Illegal Slot Machines are Trouble

California has been very clear in their support of the slot machines only being awarded to the tribes. The tribes have signed compacts with the state to get the monopoly on them, and in exchange they pay the state a nice portion of the revenue. However, some establishments have taken it upon themselves to bring in slot machines illegally.

Law enforcement officials say that they are aware of the number of slot machines that are out there illegally, but that they just don’t have the manpower to round all of them up. The California Department of Justice’s Division of Gambling Control in Southern California says that if they had the manpower they could literally fill warehouses with the slot machines that could be seized.

There is also talk that many of the slot machines that are located in some of these smaller establishments are linked to organized crime, and are funding their illegal enterprises. There are a plethora of these illegal slot machines locate in the San Gabriel Valley, all you have to do is go into any service station, doughnut shop, bar, or cigar store in Monterey Park, Arcadia or La Puente to find them.

The slot machines are marked “for amusement purposes only” but customers can pump in hundreds of dollars at a time, with no limit to the amount. If they want to cash out, all they have to do is call over the clerk or the business owner who will cash out the slot machines for them. Since there are no punishments for those who gamble on the slot machines, they keep coming back to them – and even after the slot machines are seized, the business owners just replace them with more.

 

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