Just 18 inspectors try to rein in hundreds of illegal businesses in Florida.
By Josh Salman/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: July 16, 2025
Host: Some 20 gambling dens are operating in a legal grey zone. mostly in poor neighborhoods in the Sarasota-Manatee area. Suncoast Searchlight teamed up with the Bradenton Herald on this investigation, and Josh Salman reports.
[Arcade machine plays music]
Josh Salman: It looks like a harmless arcade—but step inside and you’ll find slot machines, fish tables, and cash payouts. These “game rooms” are popping up across Florida’s low‑income neighborhoods, operating openly—and illegally—as unregulated gambling hubs.
Slot machines are strictly limited in Florida—only allowed in Seminole Tribe casinos, a few racetracks, and licensed venues down in South Florida.
Betseys Arcade. Photo by Tiffany Tompkins of the Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight.
Yet illicit arcades get around this by labeling their machines as coin‑op amusement devices when registering with authorities. Suncoast Searchlight and the Bradenton Herald uncovered about 20 such locations in Sarasota and Manatee counties—and authorities believe there are as many as 1,000 statewide.
Typically located in cheap strip malls in poorer areas, these dens are discreet—blacked‑out windows, no signage, entry by buzzer—and prey on vulnerable, addicted gamblers who are often seniors.
Local residents say they also draw late‑night crowds and sometimes bring associated crime into the neighborhood.
During the past five years alone, we found local law enforcement has responded to these businesses for hundreds of calls ranging from burglaries and fights to stolen cars and threats of suicide. Dozens of patrons have overdosed right from their gambling stools.
Spin City. Photo courtesy of Manatee County Sheriff’s Department via Suncoast Searchlight.
The Florida Gaming Control Commission, established in 2021, is tasked with enforcement—but its enforcement team is small: just 18 field agents tasked with curbing the spread of illegal gaming across all 67 Florida counties.
In recent years, the Gaming Commission and sheriff’s offices have shut down dozens of operations: raids in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Central Florida, Volusia, Manatee and Charlotte counties have seized hundreds of machines and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
But along busy corridors across the Suncoast, similar game rooms continue to do business right in plain sight. They have eluded law enforcement for years, closing down on one street only to reopen on another.
Weak criminal penalties are a major barrier. Running illicit slot machines is often only a misdemeanor—or fines of just a few thousand dollars per machine—making operations worth the risk.
Cosmo Joe’s Arcade. Photo by Tiffany Tompkins of the Bradenton Herald via Suncoast Searchlight.
In January, FGCC leaders and law enforcement urged the Legislature to reclassify these offenses as felonies and increase penalties—allowing asset seizure, tougher enforcement tools and stronger deterrence.
These operations especially harm seniors—targeted with bait like free snacks—and low‑income players uninformed about the illegal nature of these dens. Unregulated machines may never pay out fairly, offer no consumer protections and funnel profits into untraceable criminal channels.
Florida’s illicit “arcades” may wear bright lights, but behind them lies a dark, unchecked gambling underworld. With felony-level reforms and stronger enforcement, officials hope to protect communities from this growing shadow economy.
[Arcade machine plays music]
Josh Salman: Reporting for Suncoast Searchlight, this is Josh Salman. To read the full story, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/bright-lights-no-rules-floridas-illegal-gambling-dens-are-hiding-in-plain-sight.
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