{"id":313809,"date":"2026-05-29T11:01:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/313809\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T11:01:26","slug":"more-than-350k-in-cash-seized-during-swat-raid-at-houston-social-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/313809\/","title":{"rendered":"More than $350K in cash seized during SWAT raid at Houston social club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston police say an undercover investigation into illegal gambling led to a SWAT raid at a social club<\/a> in southwest Houston on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

According to Lt. Larry Crowson with the Houston Police Department, officers executed a search and arrest warrant at Lucky J Social Club at 9371 Richmond Ave. after months of complaints from nearby residents about suspected illegal gambling and other activity.<\/p>\n

Investigators with HPD\u2019s vice division were later sent undercover into the club multiple times and determined illegal gambling was taking place inside, according to Crowson.<\/p>\n

Police said the club typically kept its doors locked and employed armed security guards, prompting the department to use its SWAT team to execute the warrant.<\/p>\n

Authorities said roughly 80 to 90 people were inside the business when officers entered. Crowson said the warrant was served without incident, and no injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

Police initially said four to five people were detained during the operation. In a later social media update, HPD said three individuals were arrested on gambling promotion charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears to be a social club that has gambling in there,\u201d Crowson said.<\/p>\n

Investigators said the operation involved gaming tables and card games rather than slot-style machines. Officers also found chips and what appeared to be a cashier\u2019s booth where money was exchanged.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, pretty much a bona fide gambling,\u201d Crowson said. \u201cThat\u2019s what it appears.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its social media update, HPD said officers seized $351,923 in cash during the raid, along with other evidence connected to the gambling investigation.<\/p>\n

Police also said citations were issued for building, fire code and health violations at the business.<\/p>\n

Vice investigators remained at the scene Wednesday night, collecting gambling paraphernalia and money believed to be connected to the operation.<\/p>\n

According to HPD, officers from the department\u2019s Vice Division, SWAT, Midwest CST, and DRT units from the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast divisions participated in the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough proactive enforcement, neighborhood partnerships, and focused policing efforts, HPD will continue to target illegal activity which impacts the safety, peace, and well-being of our neighborhoods,\u201d the department said in the social media post.<\/p>\n

Police have not released the identities of those arrested.<\/p>\n

Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at newstips@khou.com<\/a> or call 713-521-4310 and include your name and the best way to reach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston police say an undercover investigation into illegal gambling led to a SWAT raid at a social club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2397,56,58,57,8063,5171,112911,112396,49518,702,12915,112913,112912],"class_list":["post-313809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-arrest-warrant","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-police","tag-hpd","tag-larry-crowson","tag-lucky-j-social-club","tag-social-club","tag-social-media","tag-southwest-houston","tag-swat-raid","tag-undercover-investigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313809","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=313809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}