The search warrant affidavits and indictments provide a window into the inner workings of the casinos - located in strip malls, houses, outbuildings and apartments - which investigators routinely refer to as “gambling dens.” “It’s rare to have a patron who does not use or sell methamphetamine inside these locations,” the U.S. (Courtesy of FBI via search warrant/For The San Diego Union-Tribune) Guns and meth are common parts of the landscape, according to investigators, as gang members are known to provide security and drugs are furnished - sometimes for free - to keep gamblers at their machines for long stretches of time, returning again and again for more. Homicides, shootings, stabbings, assaults, robberies, thefts, drug sales and gun possession have all been investigated. Wednesday’s searches, most of them in City Heights, cap a wide-ranging investigation meant to stamp out the rising violent crime and drug activity often associated with underground casinos.įrom July 2018 to July 2020, more than 400 crime cases and more than 300 arrests were documented within a stone’s throw of 36 known gambling parlors, according to an affidavit. The bulk of these indictments were brought under the federal Illegal Gambling Business Act, which means the business must violate state gaming law, involve five or more people and have operated consistently for more than 30 days or gross more than $2,000 in a single day. It is generally illegal to run a for-profit casino or own a functioning slot machine that is less than 25 years old. Gambling is a tightly regulated industry in California and is limited to licensed horse wagering, tribal casinos, state lotteries and cardrooms.

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