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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.

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