Officials continue crackdown on illegal gambling machines in Wichita

Area law enforcement agencies are cracking down on illegal gambling machines.

Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay said Tuesday that two gambling-related arrests have been made following the serving of more than a dozen search warrants at various businesses in the city on Thursday.

Police did not name the two individuals, but according to a Sedgwick County Jail booking report, Craig A. Gabel and Benedict S. Klenda were both arrested Thursday on suspicion of two felony counts each of commercial gambling.

Both of Wichita, Gabel was arrested at a business at 1215 W. Pawnee and Klenda at a strip mall at 2910 E. Harry.

Ramsay said that 284 illegal gambling machines were seized during the raids. The crackdown is a collaboration of the police department, Sedgwick County officials and the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission.

“Crime is location-based,” said Ramsay during a news conference at City Hall. “We see a lot of crime around these locations.

“Often times, there is an attractive nuisance that brings crime into an area. For example, hundreds of crimes were reported in the immediate area of these establishments in the last year.”

District Attorney Marc Bennett said the devices are usually old machines from casinos that are sold on the secondary market.

“These (gambling machines) are going to continue to be shut down,” Bennett said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the county or the city. In this jurisdiction, and frankly across the state, these machines are illegal.

“The message should be clear – don’t put these in your businesses.”

Bennett said the machines are often rigged to give users fewer chances to win compared to regulated machines in sanctioned casinos.

In May, police raided two south Wichita businesses and seized about 80 illegal gambling machines. In the past year, Ramsay said, more than 500 such machines have been confiscated.

Most, Bennett said, have been removed from bars, smoke shops and other convenience-type stores.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Officials continue crackdown on illegal gambling machines in Wichita."