Following an investigation at a Gainesville convenience store that began last month, Hall County sheriff’s detectives arrested two people this week on charges of commercial gambling.
“In November, investigators with the agency’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) began looking into illegal gambling activity at the Casa Blanca convenience store/gas station on Browns Bridge Road.,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman B.J. Williams said Wednesday. “The investigation determined a store manager, identified as Udyesh Mukeshlal Patel, 27, of Gainesville, and an employee, Emily Isabel Medrano, 25, of Talmo, on two separate occasions took money from customers and allowed them to use the gambling machines on premises. Patel and Medrano issued cash payouts to the customers.”
Both Patel and Medrano were taken to the Hall County Jail. Each posted bond of $5,700 Wednesday and have been released from custody.
Georgia law specifically prohibits cash as prizes in such instances. “The prizes awarded shall be noncash prizes and cannot be awarded based upon the playing of a game on a computer, mechanical device, or electronic device at a place of business in this state,” a section of the law reads.