Fifty electronic gaming machines and $112,548 were seized as evidence Thursday morning when the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Investigative Unit executed a search warrant on an illegal gaming facility.
The search occurred at Wild Thing in Crossroads Plaza at 11201 state Route 800 NE in Sandy Township, according to Sheriff Orvis Campbell.
The owner was charged with operating a gambling house, according to Eric Wolf, enforcement commander for the Ohio Investigative Unit, part of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. He said the owner was charged with operating a gambling house. One employee was served with a summons for a gambling charge Thursday, and two more employees will receive summonses for the same charge when they are found, he said.
All the charges are misdemeanors which will be handled in New Philadelphia Municipal Court.
Wild Thing was paying out large amounts of money, according to Campbell. State law limits such businesses to paying winnings in prizes valued at no more than $10.
Wolf said undercover agents of the Ohio Investigative Unit visited Wild Thing and got cash payouts.
Wolf said the $112,548 seized on Thursday was an unusually high amount of money to be kept at the business. But the employee who makes bank deposits was on vacation, he said.
The machines were taken to Columbus to be stored until disposal, according to the sheriff.
