GOVERNOR Juan N. Babauta may have good reasons when he said that he preferred a complete phase out of poker arcades in the commonwealth. Last May 17, Babauta appealed to the public to help the police in solving the murder of businesswoman Marsha Kim, who was killed at her KSH Poker center in Chalan Piao in Feb. 1999. Five days after the governor’s press conference, Mostofa Faruk Parves, a poker attendant, was murdered at Candi’s Poker in Tanapag. The killing of Parves happened four days before the first death anniversary of Jose A. de la Rosa, another poker attendant. De la Rosa was brutally murdered inside Ace Poker in Garapan on May 26, 2001. And five days after the killing of Parves, Ocean Poker in Kagman II was robbed and fortunately the attendant was unhurt. As of yesterday, the three homicides and the Ocean Poker case remained unsolved.
There were several other poker incidents that happened early this year. Last May 13, four boys tried to steal money from Texas Poker in Dandan by breaking the bill acceptors of some machines. Last March 25, a cashier was injured as he struggled with a knife-wielding man who was robbing Royal Flush Game Room in Susupe. Last March 22, two men, including one armed with a gun, tied an attendant and robbed Hilltop Poker in Sadog Tasi. Last Jan. 30, an attendant was injured when three men attacked him with a knife during a robbery at Yang Yi Poker Room in San Vicente. There were also numerous poker robbery cases last year, mostly unsolved. The government reported that for the last seven years, 47 poker-related robberies were recorded out of the 326 robbery cases reported in the CNMI. My sources said some poker arcades in Chalan Kanoa had been robbed, but their owners were too scared to report the matter to the police.
Would surveillance cameras or assigning security guards at poker centers solve the problem? Camera and security guards are good deterrence, but remember there was a surveillance camera installed at Ace Poker yet the robbers simply took the tape and killed de la Rosa. Some veteran investigators also say that phasing out poker arcades would not eliminate robberies. If you take away poker arcades, the robbers would just target other business establishments. Remember, these robbers are mostly bandits and drug addicts.
The growth of the poker industry started in 1998 when the government lifted a cap on the number of poker machines. From 259 poker units, there are now 1,302 licensed poker centers in the CNMI. The poker industry reportedly contributes $10 million a year in license fee to the government’s coffers. But poker addiction also leads to erosion of family and social values—not to mention crimes.
When the FBI-CNMI Task Force, with the assistance of the Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, started going after robbers a couple of years ago, the rash of poker robberies stopped. When the task force became inactive, poker robbers started going back to business again. But the days of these poker bandits are numbered because the FBI-CNMI Task Force, I just learned, is back in full swing. These bandits will soon pay for their crimes at U.S. jail facilities. Perhaps that’s the solution.
A woman sold her parcel of land just to pay her debts. During a hearing in court, the woman was surprised when a lawyer told her that she had to pay more because of interests incurred and other costs. The woman blew her top and yelled at the attorney. “You are not a lawyer, you are a thief!” Blah, blah, blah and blah, blah, blah. The woman only stopped when the judge told her: “that’s enough.”
