LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Police raids have led to more than $91,500 in cash and 82 gambling machines being removed from two illegal storefront casinos in Lansing.
The raids followed an investigation by Michigan’s Gaming Control Board, the state Attorney General’s office and Lansing police, the Lansing State Journal reported Wednesday.
Most of the machines, including 28 slot machines and a virtual blackjack table, were removed Feb. 28 from a storefront in a shopping center. Thirteen full-size slot machines and seven other games were removed March 4 at the other storefront.
“Unregulated, illegal gambling operations in Lansing invite crime into our neighborhoods and business corridors,” Mayor Andy Schor said in a release. “We are doing all we can to identify these illegal establishments and shut them down permanently.”
In 2018, five Lansing women pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling operation out of a storefront at the same shopping center where the Feb. 28 raid was carried out, according to the newspaper.
Lansing’s City Council later that year adopted an ordinance setting misdemeanor penalties for illegal gambling up to 90 days in jail with a fine of no more than $500. The ordinance also allowed the city to take civil action against an illegal gambling establishment and declare it a public nuisance.
