US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arm has led other federal bodies in raids on three locations in Florida. It resulted in the seizure of over 200 illegal gambling machines.
In a press release on Thursday, the Florida Gaming Control Commission (FGCC) stated the raids on venues in Jacksonville and Orange Park netted “230 illegal slot machines, 23 fish tables” and other digital items.
While the release didn’t announce any arrests in the abovementioned raids, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office took to X Thursday to state that it arrested two women with assistance from the FGCG at Paradise Arcade in Sarasota:
According to the Commission, ICE’s criminal investigation arm fronted the December 11 raids in Jacksonville and Orange Park under codename ‘Operation Funny Money.’ The Inland Revenue Service, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the FGCC also participated.
illegal casinos that are popping up across Florida”
FGCG Executive Director Alana Zimmer stated her body’s agents were constantly working to shutter “illegal casinos that are popping up across Florida” and would take “vital, necessary steps” to do so.
The offending machines and devices were, according to reports, taken into storage for “evidentiary purposes,” while proceeds recovered from machines were kept and documented by evidence technicians as part of the HSI investigation.
According to the Commission, gambling machines are only licensed at eight pari-mutuel facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and at “certain facilities operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.”
