Video Poker in Massachussets???

PELHAM – Six people were arrested Thursday night in a sting operation involving members of the Internal Revenue Service after they were allegedly found to be involved in two video gambling operations.

Police and members of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division executed search warrants at Athens Video at 49 Bridge St. Unit 4 and Greek American Video at 30 Bridge St. Unit 4, where they allegedly seized 11 video poker machines, a video slot machine and more than $1,000 cash, police said. Officers also allegedly found an unknown quantity of cocaine at the Greek American Video location, police said.

Police arrested Peter Bautis, 42; Christine I. Wojcik, 32; and Mary V. Soucy, 54, all of Lowell, Mass., on charges of illegal gambling at Athens Video shortly after conducting the search at 9:30 p.m, police said.

After the search at a second location, police arrested John Kolios, 52, of Nashua, on charges of illegal gambling and sale of narcotics; Toni Gagliardi, 34, and Gregory Bohenko, 40, both of Westford, Mass., on charges of illegal gambling, police said.

All six will be arraigned this morning in Salem District Court, police said.

Wow...far out.I live just a few miles from there.

This stuff is not anything new in Mass. Lots of "Clubs" have video poker machines. Almost all are hidden in back rooms, and work off credits accumulated on the machine for payouts. First you buy credits from the bartender or manager, who adds them to your machine with a mechanical switch. You pay for them and then begin play. When a player is lucky enough to win, he just shows the manager or whoever is in charge his credits, and is paid in cash. The credits are then deleted. Every now and then the State cops have to bust a club. I guarantee you right now, there are hundreds operating all over the state. In this case it may have been the drug connection, that attracted the police to begin with.


wil.

I'm from the South Shore in Ma, and I remember this one bar that had 4 video poker machines. The sign on the machine said "for entertainment use only" But all the regulars new that it payed out. You would see the bartenders on break playing and playing. They got busted a few times but nobody ever got arrested, just fined. Some good payouts came out of the machines also. Now the bar is closed down, but it was funny how the machines were right out in the open.

Pete
BHB

A lot of corner bars have them, but the real hotspots are VFW's, Armerican Legions, and different ethnic clubs. They all have liquor licenses, and a loyal clientele. In the last few years most places have learned to keep them out of plain sight. I do remember seeing signs that said, "For Entertainment Purposes Only" myself, last time I was in Mass.


wil.

Wilheim,

I forgot to mention that also. I've been in a couple VFW's and seen the machines too. Doesn't seem like the law really bothers all those types of places.

Pete
BHB

the story i had earlier is kind of a stretch. . .I will just say that i have seen the video poker deal in mass. it is usually a hush hush thing but they do in fact settle up with the bartender (they do not collect from the machine) i dont know if this is the same thing or not.

[This message was edited by RobFunk on October 11, 2003 at 02:40 AM.]