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Police raid two bingo halls
Two bingo halls have been stripped of dozens of electronic gambling
machines and assorted equipment after police raids on the businesses.
Casper Police obtained and executed search warrants Tuesday for Hilltop Bingo, 2655 E. Third St., and Anytime Bingo, 845 E. Second St., 7th District Attorney Mike Blonigen said Thursday.
The police department is investigating the machines, and it will give him a report.
"Nobody's been charged," Blonigen said. "It's all under investigation."
Hilltop Bingo manager Roxie Taylor could not be reached for comment.
On the other hand, Anytime Bingo no longer exists, said the manager of the new establishment called Bingo Blast at the same address.
Anytime Bingo, which operated under the auspices of a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, shut down recently and its equipment was removed, Preston Pilant said.
"Anytime Bingo" was the defendant listed on the affidavit and warrant for the search, according to copies of those documents supplied by Pilant. The search warrant, signed by Detective Robin Tuma, had not been filed as of Thursday afternoon in the clerk's office of Natrona County Circuit Court. Tuma could not be reached for comment.
Officers didn't heed protests, Pilant said. "The staff here tried to tell (the police) they were not Anytime Bingo."
Blonigen said the name of the business didn't matter.
"Warrants are for places, not people," Blonigen said. "The premises is what's important."
On Friday, Bingo Blast received its equipment -- 36 computers with touch screens loaded with software for electronic bingo, he said.
Pilant didn't want electronic bingo because the Wyoming Supreme Court had declared e-bingo illegal in rulings in 2005 and 2006, he said. The game of pull tabs, however, remains a gray area as far as electronic versions of it are concerned, he added.
A technician from the manufacturer arrived Saturday to begin replacing the e-bingo with a game that allowed customers to play with pull tabs using the same touch screen machines, Pilant said.
Tuesday, police seized the technician's personal computer, the 36 machines worth $2,000 each, two cash registers for the pull tab game, and other equipment, he said.
"They took it knowing we were not Anytime Bingo," Pilant said.
Four employees -- some single mothers -- lost their jobs, and he has a rent payment due, he said.
Pilant doesn't know how much he may lose, but the $76,000 worth of computer hardware is only the beginning, he said.
The police department hasn't returned his calls, he said.
He wanted someone from the district attorney's office to visit Bingo Blast to determine whether the equipment with the pull tab software was legal, but those calls weren't returned, either, he said.
Blonigen responded his office generally doesn't give advisory opinions because it may not have all the facts, he said. Giving advice could backfire if his office later learned something was illegal, he said.
Tuesday's seizures occurred two years after the Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court finding that electronic versions of bingo are illegal, and another ruling in 2005 that e-bingo games are illegal gambling devices and that their profits were illegally shared with for-profit entities. The ruling resulted in the shutdown of numerous e-bingo sites across Wyoming.
"The Wyoming Supreme Court took all that electric (gambling) equipment off the table," Blonigen said.
"We've got to look at enforcing the statute the Legislature passed."
www.casperstartribune.net
Casper Police obtained and executed search warrants Tuesday for Hilltop Bingo, 2655 E. Third St., and Anytime Bingo, 845 E. Second St., 7th District Attorney Mike Blonigen said Thursday.
The police department is investigating the machines, and it will give him a report.
"Nobody's been charged," Blonigen said. "It's all under investigation."
Hilltop Bingo manager Roxie Taylor could not be reached for comment.
On the other hand, Anytime Bingo no longer exists, said the manager of the new establishment called Bingo Blast at the same address.
Anytime Bingo, which operated under the auspices of a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, shut down recently and its equipment was removed, Preston Pilant said.
"Anytime Bingo" was the defendant listed on the affidavit and warrant for the search, according to copies of those documents supplied by Pilant. The search warrant, signed by Detective Robin Tuma, had not been filed as of Thursday afternoon in the clerk's office of Natrona County Circuit Court. Tuma could not be reached for comment.
Officers didn't heed protests, Pilant said. "The staff here tried to tell (the police) they were not Anytime Bingo."
Blonigen said the name of the business didn't matter.
"Warrants are for places, not people," Blonigen said. "The premises is what's important."
On Friday, Bingo Blast received its equipment -- 36 computers with touch screens loaded with software for electronic bingo, he said.
Pilant didn't want electronic bingo because the Wyoming Supreme Court had declared e-bingo illegal in rulings in 2005 and 2006, he said. The game of pull tabs, however, remains a gray area as far as electronic versions of it are concerned, he added.
A technician from the manufacturer arrived Saturday to begin replacing the e-bingo with a game that allowed customers to play with pull tabs using the same touch screen machines, Pilant said.
Tuesday, police seized the technician's personal computer, the 36 machines worth $2,000 each, two cash registers for the pull tab game, and other equipment, he said.
"They took it knowing we were not Anytime Bingo," Pilant said.
Four employees -- some single mothers -- lost their jobs, and he has a rent payment due, he said.
Pilant doesn't know how much he may lose, but the $76,000 worth of computer hardware is only the beginning, he said.
The police department hasn't returned his calls, he said.
He wanted someone from the district attorney's office to visit Bingo Blast to determine whether the equipment with the pull tab software was legal, but those calls weren't returned, either, he said.
Blonigen responded his office generally doesn't give advisory opinions because it may not have all the facts, he said. Giving advice could backfire if his office later learned something was illegal, he said.
Tuesday's seizures occurred two years after the Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court finding that electronic versions of bingo are illegal, and another ruling in 2005 that e-bingo games are illegal gambling devices and that their profits were illegally shared with for-profit entities. The ruling resulted in the shutdown of numerous e-bingo sites across Wyoming.
"The Wyoming Supreme Court took all that electric (gambling) equipment off the table," Blonigen said.
"We've got to look at enforcing the statute the Legislature passed."
www.casperstartribune.net
