San Antonio raids hit seven suspected illegal game rooms that paid out in Pokémon cards and silver

Authorities in San Antonio, Texas, have shut down seven suspected illegal gambling operations that allegedly rewarded winners with Pokémon cards, sports memorabilia and silver instead of cash. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office carried out the coordinated searches before sunrise on Wednesday, November 4. They led to 23 detentions and the seizure of roughly 500 to 600 gaming machines.

Sheriff Javier Salazar said investigators believe the targeted businesses were connected through a larger operation known as 777. Thirteen people are expected to face charges including illegal gambling, felony drug possession and organized criminal activity, and some also have outstanding misdemeanor warrants, according to local reporting by News 4 San Antonio. The sites were spread across the north and west sides of the city, including a venue called the Silver Room Game Room in a shopping center on West Avenue, and locations on Wurzbach Road, Callaghan Road, Broadway, Clower, Dollarhide and Culebra Road.

Investigators say the operators designed alternative payout methods to work around Texas limits on gambling prizes. At one location, customers were reportedly given valuable Pokémon or sports trading cards, which a neighboring business then bought so winners could convert them into money. Salazar described the arrangement as an effort to disguise gambling proceeds. At other sites, small silver coins were allegedly handed out and later exchanged for cash.

Texas law allows certain amusement machines to give out merchandise, but only with prizes of limited value. Paying out valuable collectibles does not automatically bring a transaction within that exemption, and the legality of a machine also depends on how the game is built and how rewards are paid.

The raids also turned up other suspected crimes. Two women were found with felony-level amounts of methamphetamine and heroin at the Broadway premises, and officers seized large sums of cash from a site believed to serve as the network's financial hub, with the money allegedly meant to be distributed among the other locations.

Salazar cautioned that such businesses can bring robberies, violence and fire risks from unsafe electrical wiring to nearby neighborhoods. He also raised concern about older customers and people on fixed incomes, who may be more exposed to gambling losses. He said a business tied to the 777 name had been targeted before, but the operators reopened elsewhere.

The operation is part of a wider push against illegal gambling in Texas. On October 29, Galveston County authorities served 21 search and arrest warrants on suspected gambling businesses in Galveston, Texas City and La Marque, seizing more than $2 million in cash and other assets and charging four people with organized criminal activity.