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29 March 2024

Las Vegas-style gambling casino busted in Dubai

Published

Dubai police smashed a large gambling casino styled on the famous Las Vegas gambling halls, using seven undercover detectives in the operation that resulted in the arrest of many persons near Jebel Ali.

Police acted after receiving a tip-off that a casino is operating illegally in a car park rented by three European and Asian men at Jumeira Beach Residence (JBR) walk area and that nearly 30 modern machines similar to those in Las Vegas casinos are used in that place.

“We devised a careful plan to infiltrate that place as we learned that the owners pick their customers very carefully,” said Brigadier Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansoori, head of the detectives and criminal investigation department.

The Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum said police managed to send seven undercover detectives to that casino and supplied them with Dh50,000.

It quoted another police officer as saying they began gambling without attracting any suspicion before a police force waiting nearby stormed the place on April 19. The operation resulted in the arrest of the three owners and 18 men who were caught gambling.

“The defendants confessed to have operated a casino illegally….they brought those machines into the country as games for children which are usually used in malls and other public places,” said Colonel Salim Al Rumaithi, director of investigation at the Department.

“The funny thing in this operation is that one of the undercover policemen who gambled won Dh700 but of course he handed it to the police.”