No gas. No gambling. That was the situation Friday night when the Phillips 66 Pit Stop at 630 N. Glynn St. in Fayetteville was shut down for illegal cash pay-outs on video poker.
Store owner Wael Ibrahim Husein, 38, of Hampton, was charged with felony commercial gambling and misdemeanor charges of keeping a gambling house and possession of a gambling device, according to Fayette County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dwayne Prosser.
Store clerk Sherri Tucker, 34, of Senoia, was charged with misdemeanor keeping a gambling house, Prosser said.
Acting on a tip that cash pay-outs were being made on the store’s video poker machines, an undercover agent with Fayette Sheriff’s Drug Task Force entered the store and took a turn at the machines, Prosser explained.
Though video poker winnings are intended to be used as points toward the purchase of store merchandise or gasoline, the agent requested and was given cash for his winnings after Tucker checked with Husein and was instructed by him to make the cash pay-out, said task force Commander Mike Pruitt.
Task force agents and deputies moved in after the cash pay-out and temporarily shut down the store. An undetermined amount of cash was seized from the store’s nine video poker machines.
“We have received complaints on some stores paying out in cash and we received an anonymous tip that this was occurring at this location,” Prosser said at the scene Friday night.
Prosser said the Sheriff’s Office has received complaints of people gambling and losing large amounts of cash. One individual, he said, was reported to have lost approximately $2,800 in one day. The money had come from a tax refund check.
Commenting Monday, Pruitt said paying video winnings in cash rather than in merchandise is a slippery slope, one that can have legal and criminal consequences.
“We’ve received information that a number of stores are participating in paying cash for video winnings,” said Pruitt. “We’re sending the message that if you pay out in cash and get caught, you’re going to jail.”