HOUSTON — Cash and property were seized during a bust at a game room in the City of South Houston Tuesday.
This comes after a year-long investigation into money laundering, according to Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen.
This particular game room on the 1500 block of College Avenue has been raided four times.
During a press conference, Rosen said seven people, the owner and operators of the game room, have been charged with a first-degree felony.
So far, four people have arrested: Aracely Gonzalez, 32, Sammy Phipps, 30, Moises Mendez, 44, and Vimalkumar Shirolawala, 43.
Officials are still looking for Mehulkumar Rana, 38, Bhavesh Joshi, 31, and Gauravkumar Patel, 29.
Constable Rosen tweeted pictures of the cash seized from the location. He said the game room collects between $60,000 and $100,000 a day.
Back in February, the same game room was raided while a large group of people were gambling inside, including several elderly people. Authorities seized thousands of dollars they found in a nearby trash bin. They also seized about 200 gaming machines.
KHOU 11 Investigates has looked into how police cash in on illegal game rooms across town.
A review of nearly 600 forfeiture cases from 2014 through 2018 revealed a pattern of police work that pads law enforcement budgets but does little to shut game rooms down: Police raid the establishment, seize the cash and a few machines. Sometimes no charges are filed, and, if they are, the case either gets dismissed or results in a short jail sentence. The game room opens back up, and police raid it again.
ALSO POPULAR ON KHOU.COM: