The adage, “they’ll get what’s coming to them” finally came true for the many bars in central Indiana that ran illegal gambling, either through illegal slot-like machines, called “cherry masters,” or by running numbers.
For those of you who think of “running numbers,” as slum-centered it’s been going on in area bars for years. Here, it’s called “drawings,” where someone buys a number and hopes it gets pulled to win the pot. Sounds innocuous.
Cherry masters seem like innocent fun, too. Both are illegal and probably rigged. Who knows for sure because no one regulates it. It’s governed by greed. Oh, and no one pays taxes on the winnings.
We don’t know if any of the 39 people arrested over the past two days are guilty. They are innocent until proven guilty. We’re not casting individual blame, we’re just acknowledging that illegal gambling in Madison County and its environs has been overt, well-known and ignored by every law enforcement officer and agency for years. It included the cops who drank at those spots to their bosses who knew about the activities at those establishments.
Imagine how much larger the coffers of state and local governments would be if they had gotten a slice, through taxes, of that multi-million dollar industry. Imagine how much easier it would be for legitimate, law-abiding businesses to compete had their competitors not been awash in illegal gambling money.
And when people operate outside the law, they don’t act outside the law just a little. In for a dime, in for a dollar. When there is this much money at stake, assume there is extortion, bribery and violence. It all goes with the territory. High risk, high return. Oftentimes, the only way out of a life of crime is either prison or death. We’re not exaggerating.
So, yes, we’re delighted police swooped in and seized millions of dollars of criminally gotten assets. Local governments will divvy up the spoils. Good for them.
The prolificness of illegal gambling has been an embarrassment to our community for years and proof that corruption lives in Madison County. The raids didn’t completely stop the problem. Illegal gambling is still rampant in other area establishments.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings says the state excise police have been building its case against accused ring leader John Neal for five years. But what about all the illegal gambling long before then?
Why weren’t these establishments shut down long ago? We can only guess. Why were they seized just two months before Rodney Cummings is up for re-election? Again, we can only guess.
Yes, the bust will play well for Cummings’ campaign. In the long run, we don’t care what the motivation for the raid was, just that it finally happened.
We believe: It's about time police raided all of the bars getting fat on illegal gambling.
Opinion
Cracking gambling ring long overdue
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