Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC)agents seized 16 video poker machines and $8,000 cash in a Nov. 13 raid at Posey’s Grocery west of Athens in Limestone County. The agents also confiscated $4,000 in cigarettes.
“One person was arrested and charged with possession of gaming devices and sales of tobacco products without obtaining a tobacco permit,” said Lt. Leslie Woodall, who works in ABC’s District 4 Office Enforcement Division.
Woodall said his office had been investigating the convenience store for about six months after a citizen complained about illegal gambling activities operated in a back room of the business.
Woodall said calls from citizens often come from spouses complaining about their partner who had been “playing these machines and don’t have money to pay the bills.”
“There is big money in that stuff … and the poor citizens are getting ripped,” Woodall said. “The machines they use are set by the people bringing the machines in. … They can set them down to where they don’t pay anything because nobody regulates them. … The chance of you getting a payout from that machine is very minimal.”
Woodall said the gas pumps at the store did not work since the owner more than likely was “making so much money off the machines.”
Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely said his office raids places like these about every two to three years.
“They (store owners) think that it’s easy money that helps pay the bills,” he said. “They get tempted by these guys who want them to put the machines in there and … they forget to tell them that they might have to go to jail.” (TAB)
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