![\"D.A.](\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/08.jpg\")
D.A. Luis V. Saenz is leading the effort to shut down illegally operated eight-liner\/sweepstakes businesses with the assistance of several County, State and Federal agencies. Photo: Cameron County District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/p><\/div>
\nA state district judge ruled in favor of the State Monday denying owners of a sweepstakes gambling business possession of property seized at a May Operation Bishop raid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge win for the State, because it further proves that no matter how much technology you use in an attempt to mask illegal gambling, it remains just that \u2013 illegal gambling,\u201d District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said.<\/p>\n
Owners of sweepstakes establishments attempted to argue that their gambling establishments were legal due to the technology utilized. However, they paid out large cash prizes comparable to illegal 8-liner establishments. Owners of the Longhorn Sweepstakes\u2019 forfeited property were Antonio Cantu Longoria of Brownsville; NGOC Tri Nguyen of Keller, Texas; and Trifecta Dynamics of Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n
Of the items seized were: 67 computers\/monitors, one neon sign, one yellow dolly, one Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, one Emerson 32\u201d LCD HD TV, two 42\u201d televisions, one 47\u201d television and $1,689 in U.S. currency.
\nOperation Bishop \u2013 the culmination of an 18-month criminal investigation of illegal gambling in Cameron County \u2013 raided the Longhorn Sweepstakes in Port Isabel after investigators found that owners were paying cash prizes to patrons greater than $5.<\/p>\n
According to state law and the Attorney General, eight-liner and sweepstakes businesses that give cash prizes of $5 or more, even if some or all proceeds benefit a non-profit\/charity, are deemed an illegal-gambling operation.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that the eight-liner\/sweepstakes industry generates at least $300 million annually. The money is known to leave the County and even Texas.<\/p>\n
Operation Bishop is the first operation of its kind in terms of number of agencies working together to curtail what is known as a criminal epidemic in Cameron County.<\/p>\n
Agencies and entities participating in Operation Bishop are: The Department of Homeland Security, FBI, DEA, Cameron County District Attorney\u2019s Office, Cameron County Judge\u2019s Office and Cameron County Emergency Management, Cameron County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Cameron County Constable\u2019s Office \u2013 Precinct 5, Brownsville PD, Port Isabel PD and San Benito PD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A state district judge ruled in favor of the State Monday denying owners of a sweepstakes gambling business possession of property seized at a May Operation Bishop raid. \u201cThis is a huge win for the State, because it further proves that no matter how much technology you use in an attempt to mask illegal gambling, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-exclusive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1558,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions\/1558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}