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Dunedin game room closed

A probe leads to two arrests on gambling charges and the seizure of 51 machines.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published February 4, 2006

	[Times photos: Jim Damaske]
	Stacks of money sit in the open as the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office holds a press conference Friday inside Spinners Game Room on Main Street in Dunedin. Authorities said that illegal gambling was taking place at the business. Two people were arrested and 51 machines were seized from the building.
	Tatum Lorraine Whitney, the manager of Spinners Game Room in Dunedin, was charged with operating a gambling house and possession of a gambling machine.

DUNEDIN - Undercover sheriff's deputies wanted to know what was going on at Spinners Game Room, a new business in a strip mall on Main Street.

So they paid a visit. They slipped coins and dollar bills into video poker and slot machines. They even won sometimes.

Unfortunately for Spinners' operators, the deputies used their winnings to buy an "item of value," which they plan to use as evidence that the game room was actually an illegal casino.

On Friday, deputies shut down Spinners, confiscating 51 machines. They also arrested manager Tatum Lorraine Whitney, 27, of Largo and employee Daniel R. Osores, 29, of Pinellas Park. Each was charged with operating a gambling house, a felony, and misdemeanor possession of a gambling machine. Whitney was released from the Pinellas County Jail after posting $5,500 bail. Osores remained in jail Friday night in lieu of $5,500 bail.

The deputies say the gambling occurred when customers put up to $20 in bills and change into the machines to play games of chance. The games allowed them to build up points.

The machines paid no cash, but did issue tickets that patrons could redeem with the manager for Visa debit cards. In Florida, it is illegal to play "any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value."

Undercover deputies didn't win "a million dollars," said Pinellas County sheriff's spokesman Jim Bordner. But "they did investigate the business to (find out) what exactly was transpiring in there."

Sgt. Bordner said there could be more arrests.

The person who applied for the Dunedin business permit is Lea Ann Seay, 27, who lists her home address in League City, Texas, and a mailing address in Jacksonville.

In the "business type" box on the application, Seay wrote "entertainment - game room (amusement machines)." She called the business "Spinners #3." She could not be reached for comment Friday.

Officials at Dunedin's community services department said the business permit for Spinners had not been approved so the game room should not have been open even if the games were legal.

Bordner said a patrol deputy noticed the new business last month and went inside to check it out.

The deputy thought gambling might be occurring and alerted the vice unit.

The machines had names such as "Cherry Bonus" and "Queen Bee."

Signs on the wall advertised "Lady's Night" and complimentary snacks and drinks.

Bordner said the game room didn't have much business, but it was starting to increase.

"They always had, like, really thick curtains," said Erica Murray, who works at the Subway next door.

"After the first time I went in there, I never saw anyone go in."

Jose Cardenas can be reached at jcardenas@sptimes.com or 727 445-4224.

[Last modified February 4, 2006, 00:32:20]