A major internet gambling bust was made by police in Plano, Texas ahead of last weekend.
Along with federal agents, the bust was described as a crackdown 12 years in the making.
John M. Bales, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, called the raid of an alleged gambling operation “the largest book-making case in the history of the division.”
In a news conference Thursday, authorities said federal agents and the Plano Police Department worked together for years to shut down the illegal sports gambling ring that accepted an estimated $5.4 billion in illegal bets on professional and college sporting events. The ring began in North Texas but grew into a corporate identity that was based on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
Federal investigators reportedly seized sports cars, shoes, stacks of gold coins, photos, mounds of cash, and sports memorabilia.
Authorities say the investigation began with a citizen’s tip in 2006, ABC News reports.
“The tip was an excellent one and it suggested there was a book-making operation in the neighborhood,” Bales said. “There was and the scope was dramatic and spread all over the metroplex and many other states as well.”
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