TRENTON, N.J. — An illegal sports gambling ring run out of a high-stakes poker room in an Atlantic City casino was busted Wednesday and 18 people were arrested, including four with mob ties, a law enforcement official said.
The four — affiliated with the Philadelphia mob — appeared to be the ringleaders, with six employees of the Borgata Hotel Casino &Spa also among those arrested, said the source.
Five other people were being sought Wednesday.
If the charges are proven, it would be among the most serious mob incursions into the Atlantic City casino industry since the first casino opened in 1978. Fear of organized crime prompted New Jersey to institute tight controls when legal gambling began, but regulations have been loosened over the years.
Unlike Las Vegas, Atlantic City has no legal sports book.
This is the second high-profile sports betting charge in New Jersey in the last two years. In 2006, a state trooper, NHL hockey coach Rick Tocchet and a third man were charged with running a sports gambling ring. All later pleaded guilty.
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