A Queens County grand jury on Tuesday indicted eight individuals, including poker player Jay Sharon, over an alleged illegal sports gambling operation that may be accused of booking greater than $3.5 million in bets annually.

The government said that the operation involved websites and toll-free telephone numbers arrange to facilitate the bets.

The defendants are charged with enterprise corruption, a contravention of recent York State’s Organized Crime Control Act, in addition to money laundering, promoting gambling and conspiracy. The defendants are in custody in Big apple and Las Vegas, and are awaiting arraignment in Queens County Supreme Court, in step with a press release.

If convicted, the defendants each withstand 25 years in prison.

“Individuals eager about such traditional criminal enterprises as bookmaking and gambling have attempted to make use of the anonymity of the web to cover their illegal activities," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "OVER THE PAST few years—working with our law enforcement colleagues—we have taken down quite a lot of these operations and put them into bankruptcy. These cases, I believe, have put an important dent in illegal gambling nationwide—and have saved individuals around the country millions of bucks in gambling losses.”

The investigation into Sharon’s alleged gambling business began in late 2014.

Sharon, a 47-year-old poker player with more $210,000 in lifetime tournament earnings, was the alleged boss of the operation. The NYPD took $93,000 in cash from the men.

The alleged $3.5 million gambling business is solely a drop within the bucket for the $148.8 billion illegal gambling market within the United States, a figure estimated by the yankee Gaming Association, the casino industry’s leading lobbying group on Capitol Hill.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]