Illegal gambling
Green Forest man arrested in Mountain Home

A Green Forest man was arrested last week in Mountain Home and charged with maintaining a gambling house, according to a report by the Baxter Bulletin.

Daniel Scallorn

Daniel Paul Scallorn, 33, was arrested Wednesday, July 27, the Bulletin reported. According to the Bulletin, Scallorn is the owner of the Platinum Internet Lounges in Harrison and Mountain Home.

Jail logs for the Baxter County Detention Center show that Scallorn was booked into the jail July 27 with bond set at $25,000. He also faced a hold for other agencies, and was released from the jail’s custody the following morning, the Bulletin reported.

The Platinum Internet Lounge in Mountain Home has been closed since July 4 after police were called to investigate an alleged kidnapping, the Bulletin reported. A probable-cause affidavit says that officers arrested an employee of the Mountain Home lounge, 44-year-old Danny Baird, who gave investigators $6,000 cash to “take for safe keeping” while he was being taken into custody, according to the Bulletin.

While being questioned by police, Baird told police he made cash payouts to the winners of the lounge’s slot machines, and had a ledger recording the payouts, the Bulletin reported. Officers obtained a search warrant later that day for the Mountain Home lounge and seized cash, ledgers, cash out tickets, a computer hard drive and other items, according to the Bulletin.

Harrison police chief Chris Graddy said Scallorn was operating a similar business in that city that was the subject of an undercover investigation. Authorities executed a search warrant at that business the same day that Scallorn was arrested in Mountain Home.

“The Platinum Internet Lounge investigation began several months ago when officers with the Harrison Police Department and the 14th Judicial Drug Task Force noticed several of our local persons for drug convictions and known ties to drug use and sales were frequenting the business known as the Platinum Internet Lounge, which is at 1309 North Main Street in Harrison,” Graddy said Monday, reading from a news release. “Officers soon learned illegal gambling was going on along with drug use and sales was possibly occurring. The investigation continued with minor drug arrests and led to officers working in an undercover capacity inside the business to prove that the money was being put into the gaming machines and money was being paid out to winners playing on said machines. Such activity is illegal in Arkansas unless approved by voters, and no such approval has been given for this area of the state.”

Graddy said more than $40,000 in cash and 33 gaming machines were seized from the Harrison location. He said the operation was conducted by the Harrison Police Department, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, the Mountain Home Police Department, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, the Arkansas State Police and the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force.

Graddy said authorities learned that Scallorn may be operating a similar business in Carroll County and alerted local law enforcement.

A business named Platinum Internet Lounge is located on U.S. Highway 62 east of Green Forest. That business was closed Friday afternoon, July 29. A Facebook page for the business describes it as a “casino” and features photos of people playing games that look similar to slot machines.

“These Arcade games are for Entertainment purposes only!” a post on the business’ Facebook page says. “Come check them out & invite your friends!!”

The Facebook page includes links to pages for other businesses with the same name in Harrison and Nixa, Mo. A review on the Facebook page for the Nixa location describes it as “Great place to go and have fun with friends and family, friendly staff and lots of pay outs.”

Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, said the state racing commission — which has oversight for the state’s three legal casinos — frequently receives calls about what appears to be illegal gambling in businesses.

“We always refer those calls to local law enforcement in order to determine whether they’re legal,” Hardin said. “But if there are machines in which … If they’re money in and money out or paid back in some way, or if it’s you win a teddy bear, but then can exchange that bear for money. There are so many ways that people try to get around it. But … that’s illegal gambling.”

Hardin said such operations aren’t regulated by the state, which means there’s no oversight regarding what percentage of money is paid out to patrons.

“There’s not a set of rules,” Hardin said. “They’re playing by the rules that the owner creates. … Operating a gambling house is a Class D felony.”