NewsWest 9
ECTOR COUNTY - Some Odessa business owners can bet on a lot of trouble. Several game rooms were raided Thursday afternoon for illegal gambling.
The Ector County Sheriff's Office said it's a growing problem.
Sheriff Mark Donaldson has a stern warning for game rooms in Odessa.
"If you're doing illegal, it stops now because we're gonna come after you and we're gonna get you," he said.
Investigators raided four game rooms on Thursday afternoon.
Of those hit, La Fiesta off F.M. 1936, Life of Luxury off 67th and Dixie, a game room off Huntington and W. University and another off 48th and Andrews Highway.
The raids came after a months-long undercover investigation that included help from the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Public Safety.
"We've had reports that they were giving out cash which is illegal in the state of Texas," Donaldson said. "Just like you'd see in Hobbs, Ruidoso or Las Vegas, they're the computer generated slot machines so we are seizing all the motherboards from them."
Donaldson said several more illegal game rooms are on their list.
"They've just been sprouting up left and right," he said. "We already know that six of them had already closed today (Thursday) after we hit these so they obviously felt like maybe they were doing something wrong."
NewsWest 9 was told during the raids that multiple people were taken into custody on warrants.
Donaldson said more arrests are expected.
