(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that agents with the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), along with several local law enforcement agencies, have seized more than 550 electronic gaming terminals as part of two ongoing gaming investigations in Ohio.
Search warrants were served yesterday in connection with one case in Tuscarawas County and another case spanning Lucas, Sandusky, Hancock, and Defiance counties.
The investigations, although unrelated, both address alleged illegal cash payouts to customers. Under Ohio law, electronic gaming devices with cash payouts meet the definition of slot machines.
"Yesterday's search warrants should make clear that law enforcement will not allow businesses to ignore Ohio’s gaming laws," said Attorney General DeWine. "Electronic games with cash prize payouts are only legal at regulated casinos and racinos, and my office will enforce that law."
In Dennison yesterday, BCI agents assisted authorities with the Dennison Police Department in serving a search warrant at Skill Game Challenge, located at 1 North Second Street in Dennison. Thirty-seven electronic gaming terminals, as well as several thousand dollars in cash, were seized.
"We began investigating this case after receiving numerous complaints about the business giving cash payouts," said Dennison Police Chief Robert Hunt. "We are grateful for the assistance of the Attorney General's Office and BCI in investigating this case."
BCI agents and investigators with the Attorney General's Charitable Law Section served six search warrants yesterday in northwest Ohio in connection with the second investigation. A total of 514 electronic gaming terminals were seized from the following locations:
- Talk N Win, 213 Main Street, Toledo, 140 terminals seized
- Talk N Win, 3555 Navarre Avenue, Oregon, 74 terminals seized
- Surf's Up, 3156 Navarre Avenue, Oregon, 39 terminals seized
- Talk N Win, 121 South Fifth Street, Fremont, 98 terminals seized
- Talk N Win, 7525 Patriot Drive, Findlay, 62 terminals seized
- Talk N Win, 1500 North Clinton Street, Defiance, 101 terminals seized
A total of more than $72,000 in cash was also confiscated from those locations.
Both investigations are ongoing.
Authorities with the Defiance County Multi-Area Narcotics Task Force, Findlay Police Department, Fremont Police Department, Hancock County Sheriff's Office, METRICH Enforcement Unit, Ohio Casino Control Commission, Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, Oregon Police Department, and Toledo Police Department assisted in serving the search warrants in Lucas, Sandusky, Hancock, and Defiance counties.
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Media Contacts:
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840