Police Tackle Football Pool at Newport Tavern

You can bet arrests like this don’t happen very often.

In what even Newport Beach police say is a rarity, a bartender was arrested this week on suspicion of bookmaking in connection with running a football pool at a restaurant.

Timothy Wayne Cooper of Fountain Valley was arrested Tuesday at the Alley on Pacific Coast Highway following a four-week investigation that began when someone complained to police about the pool. During the investigation, detectives placed three or four bets of $5 to $10 each, police Sgt. Mike McDermott said. He did not know if they won. McDermott said there was no attempt to keep the pool secret.

Football pools are common in offices. McDermott noted, however, that they are not legal anywhere, including at the Newport Beach police station.

There are many variations of football pools. In the version police said took place at the Alley, a roll of the dice determined the gambler’s team and points.

McDermott said bets of as high as $200 were made.

Dennis O’Sullivan, the Long Beach lawyer who owns the Alley, said he didn’t know gambling was going on at his restaurant. But, he said, “I gather every bar has a little pool going on.”

He’s concerned that the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control could take away his liquor license. “In essence, that would shut [the restaurant] down,” he said.

Patrons at the Alley and other Newport Beach restaurants said football pools where players make $5 to $10 bets are commonplace and out in the open.

“Most bars don’t even know it’s illegal,” said a bartender at the Alley. “The police should have sent out a memo telling people to stop.”

A couple drinking at Billy’s at the Beach on Friday said they had often played the football pool for the five years that they had been going to the Alley.

“It happens in every single bar in the county,” said the 63-year-old man, who identified himself as Herb. “It’s a fun, neighborhood thing. We have criminals running around, and we have cops in this for four weeks. Give me a break.”

Down the highway at Joe’s Crab Cooker, an employee said there were football pools in the three restaurants he’s run. “I think it provides a little bit of camaraderie,” he said. “It gives people something to discuss.”

A man drinking at the Yankee Clipper said some bars ask patrons whether they want to enter a football pool when they walk in.

But despite the apparent popularity of the pools, McDermott said there are fewer than six bookmaking arrests a year in Newport Beach.

An arrest for a football pool “isn’t something that happens on a routine basis in Newport Beach,” he said. It is simply not a high-profile crime.

The law defines bookmaking as betting based on the result of a sporting event, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ebrahim Baytieh. The amount of the bet doesn’t matter.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Russell Sutter, who supervises his department’s vice detail, said if his officers came across a small-stakes football pool during a routine bar check, they would at least tell management that it was illegal and that it should stop.

“But if you’ve got a $100-a-spot pool, that’s trouble,” he said.

Cooper was released from jail on his own recognizance. He is expected to be arraigned next month.