C-Store Raided for Illegal Gambling Slots

DETROIT --

Police raided a Marathon convenience store in Detroit yesterday after a tip about illegal gambling.

Police found video poker and video slots mixed in with other arcade games at the store, WDIV reported. All of the game slots were reportedly geared toward children. A clerk at the Schaefer Road store declined to comment on the situation to CSNews Online Officials at Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC were unavailable for comment.

An underage decoy walked in and played the machines and after receiving tips from parents, that was the last piece of evidence the deputies needed, the report said.

"We received some complaints from not only some patrons, but some parents saying that their youngsters would go in ... they would spend the money, and they in essence were gambling," Wayne County Sheriff Robert Ficano said, adding that one mother claimed that her son lost hundreds of dollars.

A store employee claimed that nobody under age had ever played the machines, the report said.

The machines were confiscated by the sheriff's department. The owner of the store was arrested with a high misdemeanor and faces up to two years in prison, Ficano said. At least two store employees were also ticketed. Ficano refused to release the names of the store owner or its employees.
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