Two charged with felony gambling..paid money out when no bet was won

Dante · Dec 25, 2003

http://www.tribnet.com/news/local/story/4552122p-4526648c.html

KAREN HUCKS; The News Tribune

Pierce County prosecutors have charged two card dealers for Luciano's Casino & Waterfront Ristorante with felony professional gambling.

The charges stem from an investigation of possible illegal sports betting at the Tacoma card room.

Luong Lam, 38, and Randy Lizama, 23, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Larkin on Monday ordered each held in Pierce County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. By Wednesday, both had posted bail.

Attorney Ephraim Benjamin, who represented both men for their arraignment Monday, said they maintain they are innocent.

"Neither one of them really knew what was going on," Benjamin said Wednesday. "They were taken by surprise."

Deputy prosecutor Rose Wilhelm charged Lizama with two counts of first-degree cheating.

Prosecutors allege that between Oct. 16 and Oct. 18 Lizama, while dealing cards at a Fortune Pai Gow table, twice paid money to an undercover agent when the agent had lost the hand. In doing so, Lizama collected a tip from the agent, Wilhelm said.

Prosecutors also charged Lizama and Lam each with second-degree professional gambling, saying they had taken bets on professional football games. Wilhelm said Lam was getting a 10 percent commission for each bet the agent placed.

On Oct. 26, Lam told the agent he had lost $500 on a Seattle game and had paid out $8,500 to customers betting on weekend games, according to charging papers.

Between Oct. 18 and Dec. 14, the agent placed $3,500 worth of bets with Lam or Lizama, prosecutors said.

If convicted as charged, Lizama likely will serve between 12 and 14 months in prison. If convicted as charged, Lam could serve up to a year in jail.

RPM · Dec 25, 2003

MURDERERS RUNNING THE STREETS and they waste our tax money on busting people for betting on football. thats great, just fuking great.

DavidMatthews · Dec 25, 2003

It's not just that they arrest them, but they send undercover investigators in on a pseudo-sting operation. Taxpayers are paying the salaries of these investigators to do this. I hate that my tax dollars go to such "causes."

THE SHRINK · Dec 25, 2003

What the hell is SECOND DEGREE PROFESSIONAL GAMBLING?

JudgeWapner · Dec 25, 2003

That's when you lose all the time.

Dante · Dec 25, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Judge Wapner:
That's when you lose all the time.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

yup

RPM · Dec 25, 2003

NickDouglas · Dec 25, 2003

Maybe I am reading a different story, but it seems that these two got what they deserved. First of all, they were paying out bets on losing hands so that they could increase their tips. Essentially, that is blatant theft from their employer.

As far as the "second degree professional gambling" (bookmaking) charge, it appears that these guys had quite the little scam going. Lizama was a dealer and we would make small talk with players about sports gambling. Then he would introduce the casino players to Lam, who would say he was a bookmaker. Lam would tell stories about how all his players are beating him and how much money he would pay out as a bookmaker. That gave these two an illicit pipeline of gamblers going from the casino where Lizama was a dealer to Lam & Lizama's bookmaking operation. Of course, all of this is speculation, but if the article is accurate, that is probably what was going on.

I guess my problem here is that if you are a bookmaker and you want to mill around casinos looking for prospective clients while you are playing a few card games, watching a few horse races or having a few drinks, that is understandable. What I don't like is recruiting customers for a bookmaking operation while you are on the clock as a casino employee. I mean, can you imagine your blackjack dealer in Vegas making small talk with you and then eventually saying that he will book your sports action? That seems wrong to me and I think it is justified that these guys had their scam broken up.

bunyon · Dec 25, 2003

I wonder how many Child molesters, drug dealers & murderers those agents passed on the street in order to nail those guys? Why don't they go after the real scum?