Two employees of the East Odessa Game Room were arrested Tuesday after police said they paid an undercover Odessa Police Department officer in cash.
Tuan Minh Nguyen, 46, of Fort Worth and Thuc Vien Ho, 43, of San Diego were arrested on suspicion of engaging in organized criminal activity.
According to an OPD report, undercover detectives went into the business to gamble and once they won, they told Nguyen and Nguyen told Ho. Ho then paid an officer $65 in cash.
Under Texas law, game rooms are only supposed to award customers prizes and prizes valued at no more than $5.
The report indicates the detectives also seized gaming machine parts, a DVR system, documents and an unknown amount of cash.
Undercover OPD officers seized more than $33,000 from the Maroon Game Room following an undercover operation last month.
Ector County District Court documents show an undercover detective went into the Maroon Game Room on June 22, played a slot machine, received 5,790 credits and was paid $55 by an employee. Detectives also observed two employees paying cash to other customers.
According to court records, undercover OPD officers were also provided cash instead of prizes during operations at a handful of game rooms in December 2019, March 2021 and May 2021. Those operations resulted in the seizure of more than $125,000.
There are 28 game rooms operating within the city limits and 35 within unincorporated Ector County.
As of Wednesday afternoon Nguyen and Ho remained in the Ector County jail.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also placed a hold on Ho.
