St. Lucie County - Tuesday October 17, 2023: St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara is continuing a crackdown on arcades in the county that he says are operating as illegal gambling dens.
The most recent arcade bust came last week at the Beachside Social Club in Jensen Beach. Twenty gaming machines were confiscated last Thursday afternoon when St. Lucie County Sheriff deputies executed a search warrant at the Club located in the 11,000 block of South Ocean Drive on Hutchinson Island.
It was the third arcade raid in the past month and Sheriff Mascara went along and spoke about the crackdown in a statement recorded inside the club.
“The manager here says because no money is going in, its legal," but it's not legal, said the Sheriff. "This is an illegal operation. I just want to make that perfectly clear.”
He said the gaming that went on at the Club was illegal because it was gambling.
"Why?," asked Sheriff Mascara. "Because money goes to the front desk, it goes digitally back to the machine, and when a win occurs they go to the front desk and collect their money. That is called gambling.”
Sheriff Mascara warned the crackdown is not yet over. “Two people were arrested here today, we’ll be confiscating all the machines, all the money. And we’ll be back again next week," he said. "So, govern yourselves accordingly.”
The Sheriff is asking anyone with information about similar gaming operations to in St. Lucie County, to contact detectives at 772-462-3230 or call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 772-273-TIPS.