Undercover Odessa Police officers seized more than $33,000 from a local game room following an undercover operation last month and the Ector County District Attorney’s Office believes the owners should have to forfeit the money.
Ector County District Court documents show an undercover detective went into the Maroon Game Room on Andrews Highway 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.
Under Texas law, game rooms are not supposed to award customers prizes valued at more than $5.
Court documents indicate the employee who gave the detective $55 has been seen carrying a bag filled with a large amount of money and been warned about the consequences of illegal gambling on numerous occasions in the past.
On June 23, detectives executed a search warrant at the game room and seized $33,000, several ledgers with names and their cash payout amounts and DVR systems, according to court documents. The detectives did not find any “prizes” that could be distributed to winning players.
According to court documents, arrest warrants were issued to the two employees working on June 22, An Nguyen and Nu Pham.
In addition, on Monday, the Ector County District Attorney’s Office filed a Notice of Seizure and Intended Forfeiture for the $33,000 against game room owner Toan Nguyen and the employee who was working on June 23, Jensy Pineda.
The DA’s office alleges the money is “contraband and subject to seizure and forfeiture” under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
As of Tuesday, no criminal charges have been brought by the Ector County District Attorney’s Office as a result of the June operation.
As of April, there were 26 game rooms operating within the city limits and 35 within unincorporated Ector County.
In May, the Odessa City Council voted 5-1 to amend the city’s game room ordinance, in part because Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis and OPD Chief Mike Gerke are convinced some game rooms are engaged in illegal gambling. The ordinance now limits the hours of operation, the number of game machines permitted and the location of the game rooms themselves.
According to court records, undercover OPD officers were provided cash instead of credits 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.
