Illegal Gambling Ring In Panhandle Broken Up. Did You Know We Had Them?
I love to gamble, I'm not shy about admitting that.
No, I don' have a gambling problem or addiction. I just enjoy the thrill of it.
I love to sit down to a good game of poker. Drop me in Vegas and watch me hit the craps table. Sports betting is my evening activity there because I can spend a set amount and "play" on it for hours while I watch all the games I'm invested in.
So when I moved to Texas and realized there was zero gambling allowed here (aside from IF there was a horse track close), I was severely disappointed. I mean, I couldn't even use my LEGAL online horse betting account here.
However, none of that would ever drive me to open up my own illegal gambling operation, or even look for one to be a part of.
However, Bluford Lewis Clary didn't feel the same way about it allegedly, and now he could be paying for his decision to...well, get paid.
Clary is being accused of running a gambling operation known as the "Red Room Gambling Room", and it doesn't appear the entire operation was here in the Texas Panhandle. This one spread into Oklahoma and even Tennessee as well.
Documents state the gambling room was knowingly founded in January of 2021, but it could've been started as early as 2017. The whole operation lasted around 30 days and dragged in $2000 profit per day. Pretty solid haul for such a short amount of time.
However, it appears he won't be getting off scot-free, and it just goes to show you how quickly things can be found. If convicted, he would have to surrender property and cash from the operation, and it appears there's a lot of property.
There were eight total places where money and computers were seized. EIGHT. For a roughly 30-day operation, that's quite a few to get up and running. Think about the network you'd need to set up to pull in that many people to play.
We'll keep our eyes on this one because you never know what could come out of just one operation.