Tarrant County sheriff's deputies said Friday that they seized dozens of eight-liner gaming machines and thousands of dollars in gambling money during raids at two addresses in Blue Mound.
No one was arrested because deputies have decided to pursue civil forfeiture paths instead of criminal prosecutions to control illegal gaming, said Chief Deputy Mike Simonds."Through our investigation we were able to identify two game rooms that were paying cash to customers in violation of gambling laws, and we put those locations out of business," Simonds said. "We got 50 machines, and I think we can safely say we also got somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 in cash."The raids were conducted shortly after noon in the 1600 block of Globe Avenue and the 1600 block of Watauga Road. The two spots are about 430 feet apart and two-tenths of mile north of the city's police department on Blue Mound Road. Simonds said he was unaware of the police department's address. Terry Grisham, sheriff's spokesman, said customers were playing the machines when deputies arrived and were sent on their way as county work crews loaded the machines onto trucks.Criminal prosecution of illegal gaming used to take a couple of years, but the civil court route takes about 60 days, Simonds said."The gambling laws are primarily misdemeanor offenses, so we make a much bigger impact, and quicker, this way," he explained. "The criminal cases were getting hung up in courts, but we're able to get the seizures done much quicker and deprive those people of the machines and the opportunity to obtain funds illegally.Bill Miller, 817-390-7684Twitter: @Bill_MillerS-THave more to add? News tip? Tell us
