Over a dozen people who operated a casino from a villa in Dubai, UAE, have been imprisoned in jail, while five others have been fined for gambling.
In a proposal to get rid of gambling dens popping up in homes around the UAE, a Dubai Police captain stated that the force arranged a raid in April on one such residence in Al Rashidiya after getting a lead.
A special team of officers executed that raid at around 10:30 pm and found poker and roulette tables inside.
The police captain stated in court documents that they put a plan to prevent gambling places in the city.
The two-floor villa is comprised of gambling tables, a cashier and many other tools used in gambling. It also had a surveillance system in all the rooms, and there was a service of providing food and beverages for customers.
Another officer stated that they had captured many mobile phones in the raid, leading to the arrest of 17 people.
All these 17 were sent to prison. There was a room in the villa, which was the command room comprising of screens to monitor the other rooms and gambling areas. There was also a screen which showed the best, and seized three new iPhones from the same room.
A Chinese citizen, aged 29, alleged to be the mastermind of the secret shelter, was charged with organising the whole gambling scene.
He was fined with Dh100,000 ($27,225) along with one year of imprisonment and will be deported upon completing his prison term.
The other members of the group, aged between 21 to 39 and originally from India, Ethiopia, Nigeria and China, were working in the casino as shisha servers, cleaners, translators, guards, technicians and croupiers.
The female cleaners confessed that the place was being used as a gambling den.
Three other females working as croupiers at the poker tables stated they had also made sure that no cheating occurred while customers played roulette.
The Dubai Criminal Court charged them with criminal abetting, and all 16 were imprisoned for three months, with a fine of Dh100,000 following deportation upon release.
Five customers who were found during the raid from Iran, India, Indonesia and Britain denied being involved in gambling and said they were attending a party.
They all were fined Dh10,000 for gambling inside the residence.
All money and gambling tools have been seized by order from Dubai Courts.
The UAE law restricts all forms of gambling and any form of gaming advertising.