LA MARQUE — The Galveston County Organized Crime Task Force executed 21 search warrants across Galveston and Fort Bend counties on Monday as part of an investigation into an alleged illegal gambling and money laundering operation based in La Marque. The operation began around 9:30 a.m. and targeted a long-standing illegal gambling enterprise operating in La Marque and surrounding areas.
Authorities served warrants at seven game room locations: Gold Chest (5307 IH-45, La Marque), Pig Pen (5309 IH-45, La Marque), TJ's (4320 IH-45, La Marque), Rusty's (228 Lake Road, La Marque), Purple Building (1002 Main Street, La Marque), Double Diamond (116 State Highway 3, La Marque), and 24/7 (22430 W. Highway 6, Alvin). Two additional warrants were executed in Fort Bend County—one at a residence in the 5200 block of Kendall Ridge Lane in Sugar Land associated with the owner of the Gold Chest game room, and another at a warehouse located at 202 Industrial Boulevard, Suite 806, Sugar Land, believed to store and distribute illegal gambling machines.
Detectives also carried out 12 search warrants at various financial institutions as part of the financial component of the probe. As of Monday afternoon, members of the Organized Crime Task Force, the Galveston County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit, and Crime Scene Unit remained on scene conducting investigative operations.
Lt. Jeffrey Lee of Harris County Constable Precinct 4 said, "We’ve been here a couple of times." He added, "It’s extremely common. We run these operations numerous times." Lee also said, "At its base, these gaming operations prey on the vulnerable members of our community—those on a fixed income, older people—promising these huge payouts that never materialize." He continued, "At its wider angle, these are funding operations for much more serious criminal enterprises like human trafficking, drug trafficking, and things like that."
Rick Detoto, a criminal defense attorney, explained, "A game of chance [is] you press a button and there is a computer program that randomly picks the numbers or the fruit or whatever and you win, compared to a game of skill where it’s based on memory or perception or your timing, where you are kind of playing a game and you have to remember things. That’s the loophole that these people are exploiting, and it’s allowing some of these games to be legally put into these stores."
The investigation remains active and ongoing. Information regarding arrests, criminal charges, and evidence seized during the operation will be released in a future media statement as it becomes available. The Galveston County Organized Crime Task Force credited several agencies with assisting in the operation, including the Harris County Sheriff's Office, Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, Galveston Police Department, League City Police Department, and the Galveston County District Attorney's Office.