Big Brother is Watching Your Illegal Casino

7 years ago
Big Brother is Watching Your Casino
08:18
24 Oct

(Photo: Thehigherlearning.com)

In the opening of his dystopian surveillance-state masterpiece 1984, George Orwell describes his hero watching a police helicopter dropping down almost to street level and ‘snooping into people’s windows.’ The history of aviation since 1948 – the year in which Orwell’s book was published – has not resulted in street level copper-copter patrols diving bombing your house and playing peeping Tom at your bathroom windows, fortunately. But Orwell’s prediction wasn’t that far off in a roundabout way, as was demonstrated earlier this year when the FBI used drones to gather evidence on an illegal gaming operationin San Leandro.


San Leandro is suburban US town which looked like it is mostly populated by old people. At least that’s what the neighborhood housing the illegal casino looked like. From outside the casino looked like any suburban home, innocuous and clean. Looks can be deceiving; the FBI found ten slot machines, several poorly kept dogs and a load of drugs which they recovered from the site during an armed raid. Fourteen people were arrested, several already had criminal records.

From the interviews, the neighbors had no idea they were living next to a criminal outfit. As in India, the strict gaming laws in the US limit gambling to particular states, counties or Indian Reservations and only to licensed operators on licensed premises. The result of this prohibition is a plethora of underground gambling haunts like the one in San Leandro.

Busts are a pretty regular deal, and for many players tangling with the cops is still just a standard hazard of the poker life. While yourregular home game is no big deal, any time the house is profiting from the gambling, by taking a rake or charging a fee per seat, then they are outside the law and fair game for the police and/or federal agents.

This particular raid in San Leandro was coordinated using footage from a surveillance drone. A remote control four engined helicopter with an under-slung camera, eerily reminiscent of Orwell’s police patrols. This sort of thing is increasingly a part of life. Surveillance drones are now just another way for the state to collect evidence, scope out buildings, and (within the bounds of their warrants) to go snooping in at windows. Even the news have started using drones with the BBC using drone footage in their coverage of flooding in 2015.



Within a few months of the San Leandro gaming bust, another three people were arrested for running illegal poker games in Phoenix. Given the prevalence of these games, many are arguing for a rewriting of US gambling legislation, taking the industry out of the hands of organised crime and putting the players back under the protection of the law. Instead of criminalizing them.

In the meantime, next time you sit down to deal a hand, you might want to just double check that you have pulled all your curtains and closed the blinds. Cus Big Brother might just be hovering outside having a little gander through your window.


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Jon is a freelance writer and novelist who learned to play poker after watching Rounders in year 9. He has been giving away his beer money at cards ever since. Currently he is based in Bristol where he makes sporadic donations to the occasional live tournament or drunken late night Zoom session. He ...Read more

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