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Friday 14th September 2007
Top Poker Professionals Arrested in North Carolina
Police have raided an alleged illegal gambling establishment in the southern American state of North Carolina and arrested 71 people including professional players Chris Bell and Maciek ‘Michael’ Gracz.
The raid was conducted by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office with the help of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the North Carolina State Alcohol Law Enforcement Division. They executed a search warrant on a building near rural Benson in the centre of the state and confiscated more than $70,000 from what officials described as a large, sophisticated operation that drew gamblers from other states.
'It was a fairly large operation for North Carolina,” said Ron Kaylor, Deputy Director of Operations for the North Carolina State Alcohol Law Enforcement Division.
“It was basically a mini-casino. This is the first one I've seen in my 20 years like this.'
Both professional players reside in nearby Raleigh with Gracz, a World Series Of Poker winner, stating that it was a waste of tax dollars for more than a dozen officers to spend about eight hours at the scene.
'They could go catch sexual predators or something that has a real impact on society,' said Gracz. 'If they had gotten two guys to come there, they could have asked us to leave the premises and we would have left. It is illegal in North Carolina, I understand that. In every state, whether it's legal or not, people are playing poker.'
Officers seized a craps table, a roulette wheel and blackjack and poker tables with investigators stating that the establishment also had a fully staffed kitchen to feed gamblers.
Police said that they had received numerous complaints about the property before conducting their own undercover investigation. Complainants said the building was used for a number of poker, blackjack and roulette games and hosted several big tournaments a year with large amounts of money bet by up to 50 people.
Source:OnlineCasinoNews
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