{"id":234299,"date":"2026-04-04T01:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/234299\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:01:08","slug":"game-room-owner-says-she-thought-business-was-legal-following-bcso-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/234299\/","title":{"rendered":"Game room owner says she thought business was legal following BCSO raid"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office shut down a North Side gaming room Tuesday<\/a>, accusing it of running an undercover gambling operation.<\/p>\n

However, the owner of Blessed Sweepstakes on Hildebrand Avenue told KSAT that it was not a gambling operation, and says she is now out thousands after the raid.<\/p>\n

Carrie Gutierrez said she was transparent from the start about her business, and said she believed it was a legal operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city knew exactly what we were opening,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cWe did the renovations and everything to get it going. We (paid) state taxes on the stickers, each machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got our certificate of occupancy,\u201d Gutierrez continued, \u201cso no one ever said, \u2018Hey, stop. No, you can\u2019t do this.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Three people were arrested and eight others were given citations Tuesday, the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Gutierrez said she is providing assistance for Kambry Ybarra, Alissa Arenas, and Anthony Vera, who were the three employees arrested during the raid.<\/p>\n

All three are charged with gambling promotion, possession of gambling device\/equipment\/paraphernalia, and engaging in organized crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy girls that got arrested, of course, I paid to get them out jail. I\u2019m paying for the lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the raid, Gutierrez said deputies deactivated all 50 of her 8-liner machines. While she helps her employees and continues to pay for renovations, she said she may also be out $80,000.<\/p>\n

Gutierrez expressed confusion about why the sheriff\u2019s office targeted her business, saying that there are game rooms all over San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office said the operation was illegal because \u201cgambling winners were awarded sets of beads, representing a specific cash value. These beads were then exchanged for U.S. dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some operators believe these indirect payout systems bypass state law,\u201d the statement continued, \u201cthe Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office wants to remind the public and business owners that such practices remain a criminal offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether an operator pays out in cash, check, or a physical item (like beads or tickets) that is later redeemed for cash,\u201d the statement said, \u201cit is classified as Gambling Promotion and\/or Keeping a Gambling Place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutierrez said on top of the business\u2019s legal troubles, thieves also used a sledgehammer to break through a back wall of the business, targeting an ATM inside the building. The ATM was empty.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office shut down a North Side gaming room Tuesday, accusing it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4755,698,294,842,82,84,83,51314],"class_list":{"0":"post-234299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bcso","9":"tag-bexar-county","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-north-side","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news","15":"tag-we-follow-through"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}