Members of several federal law enforcement agencies surprised patrons and owners of local bars and restaurants when invading them to investigate illegal gambling connected to this evening’s Super Bowl.
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation joined members of the DEA and ATF to confiscate as many as 300 Super Bowl squares pools and thousands of dollars from more than 200 local establishments in the Northern Panhandle and East Ohio. Special Agent Jimmy Crooney said he and his staff were tipped off to the illegal activity by reading Facebook posts on the social media platform.
“We were surprised to see them, but many of these places were promoting the gambling activity in the wide open,” Crooney explained. “When we entered the public and private clubs, we were disguised as football fans by wearing jerseys, and no one even looked at us twice. Most of the patrons were too busy talking about their numbers on the boards.”
Super Bowl squares pools are contests among fans who purchase at least one of the 100 squares on a common board. Once the 100 squares are full, numbers for the home and visiting teams are established, and fans win according to the score of the game at the end of the first quarter and the first half, and then again at the end of the third quarter and according to the final score.
Cash Money
Most often, according to Crooney, the winners receive cash, and not only were 207 citations issued Sunday but more than $900,000 was impounded.
“Those boards constitute private lotteries, and that’s a no-no under state and federal law,” the special agent said. “We expect some of the bar owners will argue the boards to be legal because of the approval of sports betters in West Virginia, but those activities are sanctioned by state government while Super Bowl boards are not.
“I seriously doubt this operation would have taken place if it wasn’t for the activity on social media,” Crooney added. “But some people at the top of the FBI saw those posts as daring us to do something about it, so that’s why we had more than 50 agents participate. I know we ruined a lot of parties, but the law is the law.”
Slow But Sure
Each of the owners of the raided establishments, Crooney explained, likely will be charged with state and federal violations for diverting monies from public lotteries.
But one local president of a fraternal organization remains defiant and said he expects his organization to win on both court levels.
“Here at the Almighty Sloths Lodge, the only laws we have to follow are the ones we set for ourselves,” insisted Willie Prezlikanut. “We can do anything we want, and if that involves tossing out all the lodge’s officers so I can do what I want like having Super Bowl boards, andit’s all legal according to the Almighty Sloths International Cult.
“Those police people mean nothing to us. We’ll get the boards back and the money back, too, and we’ll have a party with a bunch of bowlers and maybe few of the other members, too,” he said. “For them to make us feel like criminals when all we’re trying to do is support old people like me is wrong. We’ll teach them a lesson; that’s for sure.”
