An illegal gambling operation recently busted up in
Orlando was either ingenious or insidious. Residents in the low income
area of Pine Hills were taken by a scam that stole both their time and
money. The operation was a mixture of online gambling, wagering at slot
machines, and buying into a sweepstakes.
The manager of Plinko has been charged with three
felony counts of running an illegal gambling operation. According to
the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the sweepstakes store called
Plinko was operating around the clock, 24 hours a day. The store
claimed to sell time on the Internet while offering a sweepstakes
promotion. Similar sweepstakes stores have been uncovered elsewhere.
However, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation
agents discovered that monitors in the store were set up to simulate
slot machines in a casino. This type of unlicensed slot machine
operation is illegal.
What is particularly interesting about this
operation is the way in which it scammed customers by stealing both
their time and money. Customers came into the establishments in hopes
of winning a jackpot while playing slot machines and poker games.
Players seldom won any money at Plinko. Winners were not determined by
game play but were predetermined at the time the players purchased time
on their account cards. So, essentially players were wasting time and
money by playing slot machines that would never pay out unless you were
a predetermined winner.
Law enforcement will likely seize the computers and
monitors used as slot machines for evidence. A man named John Brady Jr.
has already been arrested in connection with the slot machine scam.
Brady was apparently pulling in $40,000 each week from Plink.