{"id":374066,"date":"2026-08-17T22:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374066\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:50:09","slug":"florida-officials-seize-60-illegal-slot-machines-at-bingo-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/374066\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida officials seize 60 illegal slot machines at bingo hall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">CAPE CORA, Fla. \u2014 Florida gaming regulators and Cape Coral police recently seized 60 illegal slot machines from a business that authorities said was operating under the guise of a legal bingo establishment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/flgaming.gov\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida Gaming Control Commission<\/a> said the machines were seized from Uptown Bingo on Santa Barbara Boulevard during an enforcement effort called \u201cOperation Going Downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The agency is now <a href=\"https:\/\/flgaming.gov\/locations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reminding Floridians<\/a> that electronic machines displaying bingo results through slot reels or other games of chance are not made legal simply by being labeled \u201cbingo\u201d or \u201cinstant bingo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">\u201cUnfortunately, criminals prey on Floridians by using a bingo theme on slot machines and falsely claiming these games are legal,\u201d FGCC Commissioner Peter Cuderman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Under Florida law, people 18 and older may participate in legal bingo and instant bingo games using paper cards. Traditional bingo may only be offered by certain organizations, including qualifying charities, nonprofits, veterans\u2019 organizations and some residential groups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">The FGCC said bingo and instant bingo games played on electronic devices displaying slot reels or other games of chance are prohibited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Legal slot machines are limited to eight licensed locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and facilities operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, according to the commission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\">Anyone who suspects an illegal bingo hall, casino or other gambling operation can <a href=\"https:\/\/flgaming.gov\/File-a-Report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">submit a report online<\/a>, email Tipline@FLGaming.gov or call 850-880-3433.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/mobile-apps\">Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wftv.com\/video\/\">click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wftvapps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787007009_112_APP DOWNLOAD LOCAL_1541693885678.jpg_13622062_ver1.0.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 eJzHXc body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORA, Fla. \u2014 Florida gaming regulators and Cape Coral police recently seized 60 illegal slot machines from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-374066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}