14 are charged in illicit gambling ring after casino raid in San Diego
Authorities this week raided a small San Diego casino as part of a two-year investigation that has led to charges against more than a dozen men they say are involved in an illegal online gambling ring.
More than 100 FBI agents and San Diego police detectives arrested nine of the 14 defendants through coordinated efforts in California, Nevada and Kentucky, the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego said.
In three federal grand jury indictments unsealed Wednesday, authorities say the Lucky Lady Casino and Card Room in El Cerrito was used as a legitimate front for the illicit bookmaking operation, which generated nearly $1 million.
Segal’s Lucky Lady Sports Book connected bookmakers and bettors with sports gambling websites outside the U.S. — some of which were owned or controlled by members of the gambling ring, authorities said. Sanders Segal led the gambling ring, alongside his son Sydney Bruce Segal and Lucky Lady casino owner Stanley Samuel Penn, according to the indictments.
Other defendants include suspected bookmakers and international businessmen accused of financing Segal’s sports book. Five suspects remain at large in Canada and Thailand, authorities said.
In their joint investigation, which began in 2014, the FBI and San Diego police employed wiretaps and undercover agents. On Wednesday, about a dozen investigators served a search warrant at the Lucy Lady Casino.
The raid included a sweep of the adjacent restaurant, the River sports bar. Additional searches were carried out at homes around San Diego County, FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth said.
Outside the card room Wednesday morning, poker dealer David Nguyen, 36, watched as authorities searched. “There are a lot of good customers and a lot of good employees,” he said of the Lucky Lady. “Everything seemed smooth, by the book. … Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all.”
Hernandez and Winkley write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
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