Posted on Fri, Jan. 26, 2007

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Police seize video poker machines

By CLIF LeBLANC

cleblanc@thestate.com

Police confiscated 14 illegal gaming machines Wednesday night in West Columbia, seized $11,000 in cash and charged a man with running a gambling house.

SLED arrested George Milton Early III, 37, of Lexington. He also is charged with having the illegal devices in his possession.

The gaming operation was in a house at 1365 E. Lake Dogwood Circle, spokeswoman Bobbi Schlatterer said Thursday.

Among the machines found was the most popular video poker game, Pot-O-Gold. Agents also found slot machines, Schlatterer said.

An undercover officer played one machine and witnessed the gaming operation, according to the arrest warrants.

Schlatterer would not say whether the officer won and was paid.

Illegal video gaming machines have continued to proliferate despite the state’s ban in 2000.

SLED agents seized 3,400 machines in the first five years the devices were outlawed, according to State Law Enforcement Division records.

Almost half of those seizures occurred since January 2004.

“We’re averaging almost 100 per month,” SLED Chief Robert Stewart said in June 2005.

Five counties — Richland, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Florence — led the state in the number of machines seized through mid-2005, SLED’s figures showed.

In 2006 alone, agents confiscated 1,733 machines statewide, Schlatterer said.

Police seized 20 of those machines in Lexington County, while they found at least 87 in Richland County, she said.

SLED worked with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department on the Early case.

The charges are misdemeanors. If convicted, Early faces up to one year and a $500 fine on the charge of possessing the machines and a maximum of one year and a $2,000 fine on the charge of running a gambling house.

Those penalties are per offense, Schlatterer said.

Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.