Latest Game: PacMan With a Poker Face

On the surface they look like run-of-the-mill video games. But with the press of a button you are suddenly playing an illicit game of video poker.

Police completed a two-day sweep Thursday of cafes and restaurants in several Orange County cities in search of illegal gambling machines they say are cropping up in Little Saigon and surrounding central Orange County communities.

They reported confiscating nine such machines--which merchants can flip from innocuous video games such as PacMan and Tetris to video poker with a remote control--from establishments in Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Stanton and Westminster.

Police said two were taken from a Little Saigon cafe Thursday morning, where authorities arrested a woman on suspicion of possessing an illegal gambling machine.

The machines are the latest ploy in the ongoing game of cat-and-mouse between police and illicit gambling operators, Westminster Police Det. Tom Rackleff said.

“They are pretty ingenious,” he said, noting that police have searched cafes in the past for signs of gambling only to find people playing video games. “They really do go to extraordinary means.”

Police have confiscated 21 machines in the last three years. Each apparatus can generate as much as $150,000 annually, officials said.

At the Little Saigon cafe Thursday, Rackleff demonstrated how the machines work:

Using a remote control similar to a car alarm’s, he turned the machines on. The tabletop monitors quickly displayed a Tetris-like game. Using controls on the machine, he drew a poker hand. The “cards” were disguised as five cartoon characters with assigned numbers. The machine showed the payoffs using terms such as “Stag Party” for flush, “Three Friends” for three of a kind and “Team” for royal flush.

The machines accept quarters and bills up to $20. Rackleff said winners normally claim the money from the cafe or restaurant operator because the machines do not give out cash.

Under state law, odds-based machine gambling is illegal. Live card games--common in some local casinos--is permitted under certain circumstance because they pit players’ skills against each other.

Westminster City Councilman Tony Lam said the illegal machines are popular among some local gamblers but are not widespread.

“They love gambling, and they can’t stop it,” he said. “But if they want to gamble, they should go to the Bicycle Club or Hollywood Park, where it is legal.”

Illegal gambling in local clubs and cafes has been an ongoing concern to law enforcement, especially in the Little Saigon area.

At first, the operators simply imported slot machines from states such as Nevada and New Jersey, where gambling is legal, police said.

When they realized how conspicuous the machines are, they began converting old video games into poker machines. The remote control, which lets the operator switch between legal and illegal games or turn them off at the first sign of police, is the latest innovation.

“Once we are onto the types of machines, they are going back to the drawing table to redesign the machines,” Westminster Sgt. Jack Davidson said.

Authorities have not been able to pinpoint where the devices are made, but their sophistication has led to fears that organized crime is behind some of the operations.

“There is some structure that is emerging,” Westminster Capt. Andrew Hall said. “It is similar to what used to happen in New York and New Jersey 20 or 30 years ago where [organized crime] controlled many of the vending machines.”

Possession of such machines is a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Police said they have heard of similar gaming machines being found in Los Angeles.