Kalakaua gambling site raided

By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu police have shut down an organized illegal gambling operation near Waikiki that may have deceived players by using an electronic card dispenser to selectively distribute certain playing cards.

Police displayed a rigged card shoe and its remote control, which were among the paraphernalia confiscated at an illegal gambling operation on Kalakaua Avenue. Two men were arrested in connection with the case. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Lima said two men, ages 39 and 40, were arrested at the illegal gambling operation. The men face second-degree charges for promoting gambling, a misdemeanor.

But what caught the officers' attention was a mechanized "card shoe," used in legalized gambling places such as Las Vegas to distribute cards to players. The card shoes are meant to ensure players that the playing cards are not being tampered with.

But Lima said one of the employees at the gambling parlor used a wireless remote control — similar to a car alarm switch — to distribute cards from the card shoe, dealing preselected, less preferable, cards to players.

The electronics for the device were hidden away on the bottom of the card shoe with colored plastic, he said. Most card shoes are clear in plastic to show no tampering.

Lima said this is the first time police have confiscated such a device in Honolulu. Lima said the Kalakaua Avenue residence has been searched previously by police for previous gambling activities.

Lima said players may have lost tens of thousands of dollars from the gambling operation because of the rigged device.

"We just want to let the public know that they may not have the odds they think they have in these illegal gambling operations because they are not regulated or monitored," he said.

Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.