Florida Gaming Control Commission Seizes 163 Illegal Slot Machines and $247,285 in St. Petersburg Raids
On 15 September 2026, the Florida Gaming Control Commission announced that it had seized 163 illegal slot machines and $247,285 in cash from two St. Petersburg venues in a single coordinated operation.
The raids took place on 10 September at Action Arcade and The Zoo Sports Club and Grille. The regulator named the action Operation Final Spin.
For anyone tracking how Florida polices unlicensed slot venues, this is a clear data point on where the state is drawing the line.
The FGCC led Operation Final Spin with three partner agencies
The commission did not act alone.
It executed the search warrants alongside the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.
Two venues were targeted: Action Arcade at 6541 54th Avenue North, and The Zoo Sports Club and Grille at 5111 66th Street North. Between them, agents seized a combined 163 illegal slot machines and $247,285 in cash.
The illegal slot machine seizure broke down across two sites
The two locations were not equal in scale.
At Action Arcade, agents seized 90 machines and $142,020. Two individuals were issued notices to appear, each charged with one count of possession of slot machines and one count of keeping a gambling house.
At The Zoo, agents seized 73 machines and $105,265. One individual was issued a notice to appear for one count of possession of slot machines and one count of agent or employee of a gambling house.
The FGCC did not release the names of the individuals involved, and the charges stand as notices to appear.
FGCC officials framed the gambling enforcement action as part of a wider effort
Both FGCC Vice Chair Tina Repp and State Representative Berny Jacques took part in the operation, and both pointed past the single raid.
Jacques focused on who these venues reach:
“These machines are designed to take advantage of people, and far too often that means senior citizens living on fixed incomes who can least afford to lose what they have. Removing 163 machines and nearly $250,000 in cash from these operators is about protecting the most vulnerable members of our community.”
State Representative Berny Jacques
Repp set the raid inside a longer enforcement run:
“Operation Final Spin and the more than 200 illegal arcades we have shut down before this, should make it clear that our goal is to disrupt and dismantle illegal gaming across the state of Florida.”
FGCC Vice Chair Tina Repp
Operation Final Spin adds to more than 200 arcade closures across Florida
By the commission’s own account, this raid stacks on more than 200 arcade closures already carried out.
Read alongside Repp’s stated goal, that number matters. It reframes Operation Final Spin from a one-off headline into one move in a continuing statewide campaign.
The FGCC announcement confirms the enforcement facts and stops there
The official record is deliberately narrow.
The charges are notices to appear, and the individuals remain unnamed in the release. The commission set out the enforcement facts and no more.
So the machine count and the cash total are exactly what the source supports, and nothing beyond that should be read into it yet.
Where can slot machines be played legally in Florida?
Slot machines are lawful in Florida only at eight licensed locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, plus facilities operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Everything outside that perimeter is what the FGCC is built to pursue.
With 200-plus closures already behind it and Operation Final Spin now added, the open question for the regulated gaming market is a simple one: do sustained seizures shrink the unlicensed slot economy, or just keep relocating it?
