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Read Full BioA court in the Russian city of Ivanovo is set to try five people accused of operating an illegal slot machine center.
Per the Ivanovo branch of the Russian media outlet MKRU, the suspects will be tried in a criminal court in the city this month.
The trial follows a police raid on a building in the city’s Ul. Polevaya in late February this year. Officers released video footage of their raid in a VK video published the same month.
The video shows armed police officers breaking down a door before moving into the building. Once inside, the officers order the patrons and suspected operators to lie face down on the floor with their hands behind their heads.
Illegal Slot Machine Center: Five to Stand Trial
Prosecutors think that two of the Ivanovo residents they detained at the scene (aged 46 and 47) were the masterminds behind the illegal gambling den.
The duo, described as “friends” by prosecutors, rented the building before buying 17 slot machines.
They then allegedly hired two women (aged 33 and 34) and a 20-year-old man to help operate the center. All five individuals will be tried together.
Police think that the slot machine center operated “behind closed doors,” with its operators observing a range of security measures.
The center’s employees maintained a carefully curated database of regular patrons, police said.
The alleged masterminds told employees not to allow any walk-in customers to enter the premises. They asked patrons to book gambling sessions by telephone appointment, officers explained.
The operators also reportedly closely monitored the building’s entrances with closed-circuit video cameras and fitted entrance doors with special high-security locks.
Center Opened in Late 2024, Say Prosecutors
Bailiffs seized 12 coin-operated slot machines and five computer terminals. Police said the operators used the computers to offer customers more slot gaming options. They also seized cash and continued their search at the suspects’ homes.
The Ivanono Department of Internal Affairs said that per its information, the center raised more than 2.5 million rubles (over $30,000) in revenue in six months of operation.
Prosecutors will try all five individuals on charges of organizing and conducting gambling as part of an organized group.
The city is located to the northeast of Moscow, around 250km from the Russian capital.
Gambling clubs and slot machine centers are illegal in Russia outside four designated gambling zones. The zones are collectively home to the nation’s five licensed casinos.
These casinos have been bracing themselves for record footfall numbers over this year’s May holiday season, industry officials claimed last month.
In late April, police in Omsk raided a suspected gambling den operating in a shopping center in the city’s busy commercial district.
