KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports, classifieds-Parkin Police shut down illegal casino

Parkin Police shut down illegal casino

By Josh Harvison - bio | email

PARKIN, AR (KAIT) - The Parkin Police Department, Arkansas Tobacco Control Board and Cross County Sheriff's Office Friday busted an illegal casino operation at 114 W. Parkin Street. According to Police Chief Dean Davidson, 25 people were arrested for illegal gambling at the Play Time Arcade. Police found an undisclosed amount of cash and several slot machines inside.

"We used undercover agents with Alcohol Tobacco Control, some agents with my department, and we've been assisted by several agencies including Sheriff J.R. Smith and the Cross County Sheriff's Office," said Davidson.

According to Davidson, undercover agents with the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board have been visiting the location, which is located in the downtown district of Parkin.

"I feel like everything went safe. This place was full when we got here and we've got more than reasonable cause that this is a gambling house," said Davidson.

Police said the Play Time Arcade is owned by Pamela Sides. According to Davidson, she is under investigation for operating an illegal casino and could be officially charged next week.

Davidson, who did not want to comment on camera, said she thought she was legally operating her business because she was issued a privilege license by the city of Parkin.

According to police, people would be given cash based on a point system set up at the facility. According to state law 5-66-106, "If any person is guilty of betting any money or other valuable thing or any representative of any thing that is esteemed of value, on any game prohibited by § 5-66-104, upon conviction he or she shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) nor less than fifty dollars ($50.00)."

State law 5-66-103 also prohibits gambling houses: "Any person who:  (1) keeps, conducts, or operates, or who is interested directly or indirectly in keeping, conducting, or operating any gambling house or place where gambling is carried on;  (2) sets up, keeps, or exhibits or causes to be set up, kept, or exhibited or assists in setting up, keeping, or exhibiting any gambling device; or  (3) is interested directly or indirectly in running any gambling house or in setting up and exhibiting any gambling device, either by furnishing money or another article, for the purpose of carrying on any gambling house, is deemed guilty of a felony and on conviction shall be confined in the Department of Correction for not less than one (1) year nor more than three (3) years. "

Mayor Charles Patterson, who is also a certified police officer, said gambling has been a problem for several years.

"We have had another arcade here in Parkin shut down probably a year and a half ago, a little longer," said Patterson. "Gambling has been around for centuries and I think it's going to continue to be around longer than that."

Most of the people arrested were elderly women. According to Patterson, economic conditions and addiction are reasons people violated the law.

"It has something to do with the economic conditions and then a lot of times you just have people that want to gamble," said Patterson. "The age group, you know, doesn't really matter. It's whoever feels like they can win, and they're going to take a chance."

"Anything dealing with money, you can't put a label on who wants money and if they think they can get it the easy way playing these machines, that's where they'll be. Some people will be at the horse track. Some people will be at the dog track where it's legal. Some will be at our Parkin casino, which will now be closed down," said Davidson.

Davidson told Region 8 News more arrests will be made pending the ongoing investigation.

"This will be a continued investigation. The search warrant was the beginning, just the building blocks for the arrests that's going to take place later on," said Davidson.

Police closed W. Parkin St. for nearly 2 hours while rolling out the slot machines. Davidson said he hopes the raid will build a working relationship with the community.

"The citizens see this going on, and they see we're dealing with this. They know we are going to address the problems," said Davidson. "I think that it made a statement to the public that the police department, you know, we're here to enforce the laws and whatever, if you've done something wrong, we're going to correct it. It doesn't matter who it is or what it is and I think people in this community realize that the officers are going to do their jobs."

"On these machines, the odds are always against you. You can win here and there and every now and then but when you add it all up, you're going to be losing because if you wasn't losing, then the owners couldn't stay in business," said Patterson.

"Everybody went peacefully. Thank God for that because you never know what you're going to do when you go through that door when you're serving a search warrant," said Davidson. "If you notice how we shut the block down, we came in and you didn't see one officer injured nor a citizen injured. That's the most important thing."

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