lindsey.nair@roanoke.com 981-3334

An undercover investigation that had plainclothes state agents drinking beer and playing cards led to a raid Thursday night on the Salem Moose Lodge, which now faces charges of conducting an illegal gambling enterprise.

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control spokeswoman Becky Gettings said that when agents executed a search warrant at the lodge about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, they found 35 to 50 people playing a poker-style game called Texas hold 'em.

No charges had been filed as of Friday, as Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach had not finished reviewing evidence, but conducting an illegal gambling operation is a Class 6 felony under Virginia law.

"A lot of people will look at it, and they might think it's not that serious," Leach said Friday. "Well, it's a violation of the law, and these people know better. They shouldn't be doing this."

According to search warrants filed in Roanoke County Circuit Court that document the entire undercover operation, the ABC was first alerted to the activity by an anonymous caller who left a message July 10. Because Salem Moose Lodge No. 2573 on ThompÂson Memorial Drive in Roanoke County has a liquor license, it is under the ABC's jurisdiction.

The caller said illegal gambling was taking place at the lodge that day and agents would "catch them" if they went to the lodge, the warrants read. Two agents working that night went to the lodge but saw people putting poker chips into a box, indicating that any card games had ended.

In the parking lot, the agents encountered some people, and "one of the agents made a general statement to the group that he was a day late and a dollar short," according to court documents.

At that point, one man in the parking lot told the agents the tournament was a Texas hold 'em tournament held the first Saturday of every month. July 10 was the second Saturday of the month, and it was unclear in the warrant why a game was held that night.

The man in the parking lot said players paid $60 to play, and the "house," or the lodge, kept $10 of that.

According to Virginia law, the fact that players pay to play and can win cash prizes is not illegal; it is the fact that the organization hosting the tournament kept money for itself. If the money paid to play equaled the total amount of prize money, it would be a legal game.

The warrant states that the agents had a beer inside the lodge and were told the card games were being used as a way to attract new lodge members. One man inside the lodge said he was the one who ran the games and that they could play twice as nonmembers but would then have to join to keep playing.

The agents returned to the lodge Aug. 7 and played Texas hold 'em. One agent did not lose for several hours. As the tournament continued without him, he was invited to play seven-card stud, for which he paid $25 and received $20 in poker chips. Five dollars went to the house, according to the warrant.

After that, the warrant states, the agent was asked to play a side game of Texas hold 'em for $15. Six players, including the agent, paid a total of $90. The house kept $10, and the winner received $80.

The court documents indicate that after the $90 game, the agents observed that the final game in the tournament was taking place. The agents stayed long enough to see that each of the last six players apparently won a cash prize that started at $50.

Gettings, the ABC spokeswoman, said agents returned Thursday night to execute the search warrant and found 35 to 50 people playing Texas hold 'em. No one was taken into custody, but court documents list four pages of items that were seized.

Those items include cash, computer equipment, ledgers, receipts, poker chips, cards and other gambling paraphernalia.

Under the law, the individual players and the lodge could both potentially face criminal charges. The charges range from misdemeanors to felonies.

"You're not running the operation, but you could face charges, I would think," Leach said of the players, "but I haven't even gotten to that point. I don't know who the operators are. I've got some names."

Calls to the Moose Lodge on Friday resulted in busy signals and a "no comment," and a call to the public relations division of the national Moose office was also unsuccessful. One woman said no one was there who could comment.

Leach said he was not aware of any evidence that Moose officials outside the Salem lodge knew about the activities.