Police crack down on Brisbane’s lucrative private poker rooms

AN underground casino was so sophisticated its operators used cranes to hoist gaming tables into a West End penthouse, launching an investigation of potential illegal gambling reminiscent of Fitzgerald-era days.

AN underground casino was so sophisticated its operators used cranes to hoist gaming tables into a West End penthouse, launching an investigation of potential illegal gambling reminiscent of Fitzgerald-era days.

Police broke up the game in West End and said the operator could face serious charges if they took a cut from money gambled in the poker hands played.

About $13,000 was seized, along with four poker tables and chips during the raid last month.

Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Hindmarsh told The Sunday Mail there was a “quite a lot of investment” in the modified rented unit which was leased weeks earlier.

Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Hindmarsh.

The room had TVs installed on walls and blinds put up to stop people seeing inside.

“A couple of areas we are looking at – are there any links to organised crime, we don’t know at this stage?” Snr-Sgt Hindmarsh said.

“Does it involve money laundering? That’s part of our investigation. And then the financial investigation, it’s just to put a scale to what was being gambled there.

“A crucial part of the investigation is to establish if the house was taking a cut – or a rake – out of the game.”

There were 21 people in the room including card dealers and poker players.

While illegal games are lucrative for operators, there are also incentives for players who say the Treasury Casino game takes a high rake, plays less hands per hour and can have long wait times before a seat is available. With online poker banned in Australia in most cases, unless people use black market sites or cryptocurrency, there is a limited availability of legal games.

There were 21 people in the room including card dealers and poker players when police raided a suspected illegal gaming operation in West End last month.

“We had to use cranes to get the tables out of there,” Snr-Sgt Hindmarsh said. “The flip side of that is they needed to get cranes to get them in there.”

Snr-Sgt Hindmarsh said there was a potential for very large profits from illegal gambling.

“Going back to historically the pre-Fitzgerald days, there was quite a strong link to organised crime and illegal casinos,” he said.

“Back then you didn’t have legal casinos so the options for gambling were quite limited. Anecdotally, there is evidence you can make quite profits from illegal gaming.”

Police are combing over banking records after busting up the game.

The Office of Liquor and Gaming has website has guidelines to poker games and rake taken.

The general public didn’t need to be wary if they were playing a game without a rake at their house, Snr-Sgt Hindmarsh said.

“Where it’s an illegal game, where it’s profit-motivated venture for the people taking a cut of the games, it is illegal,” he said.