Slaphouses feature 6-seat video gaming stations like the one depicted here. Players slap the console, giving the gaming dens their name.
A few years ago, the Vietnamese community in Los Angeles gambled illegally at public coffeehouses in Little Saigon. A dozen raids on those coffeehouses in 2011 appeared to have shut down the activity. The raids netted 186 illegal gambling machines and $150,000 in cash.
Now it seems that the illegal gaming activities simply moved to private residences. “Slaphouses” have been set up which generate $100,000 in cash. The problem is the slaphouses draw a lot of commotion in an urban era. Along with the commotion, crime becomes rampant.
What Is a Slaphouse?
A slaphouse features blackjack and video poker. The gaming sites gained their name due to the 6-seat gaming kiosk at which players gamble on video games. Players repeatedly slap their hands down on the game console, which is loud enough that neighbors hear it repetitively through the year. Due to the constant slapping noises, they’re called slaphouses.
Sgt. Darin Upstill, a police officer from Westminster, said the adding that the objective of the video game is to slay a dragon by shooting fire (out of a wand). He said that the gamblers play obsessively: “They don’t just go there for an hour, they’ll be there for hours on end.”
Why They Are a Nuissance
That might be in the realm of a nuisances, but the disturbances do not end their. People congregate at the slaphouses in large numbers. They come and go all hours of the night, and in many cases are drinking or doing drugs.
Most of the time, police are called by irate neighbors. In one incident, law enforcement discovered a slaphouse when one of its patrons got in a fight and ended up in the hospital.
A Hub for Organized Crime
The police say the slaphouses fuels both desperation and criminal activity, and their operations could be used to launder money. Officers do not know if organized crime is involved, but it is a possibility. Sgt. Upstill said, “Now, who is financing it is another story. That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Lt. Tom Darae said, “It’s a hub for organized crime. Off a slaphouse, you’re probably making $100,000 a month — easy.”
Moving the gaming operations from coffeehouses to slaphouses makes it more difficult to police. Because they’re in private residences, police need a warrant to search the house. Also, neighbors are sometimes fearful of calling the authorities, for fear the owners of the slaphouses might guess they were the one and retaliate.
Dozens of Raids Since 2013
Despite those obstacles, police have made inroads. Over the past 3 years, police say they have encountered dozens of slaphouses in Little Saigon. They still use the local statute which was designed to shut down the coffeehouses. Without doubt, the slaphouses are illegal dens of gambling.
Authorities say the slaphouses are often rental homes. They have at least one resident, to provide security or safety for the money generated. That cash is moved out of the house fairly quickly, so it is not a lure to potential robbers. To even play, someone has to know someone in the inner circle.
Not Isolated to Little Saigon
Orange County police say that illegal gambling is hardly isolated to the Vietnamese immigrant community. But since many immigrants escaped South Vietnam in the wake of the communist takeover in 1975, gambling has been a perennial problem in Little Saigon.
Dr. Timothy Fong, who is the co-directory at UCLA’s Gambling Studies Program, said a love of gambling is a part of Asian culture. Dr. Fong said Asians like to test fate or see what their fortune is and gambling is a simple way to do it.
Fong said, “It is very steeped in tradition. You are supposed to take huge risks and you are supposed to ‘go big.'”
Thus, the slaphouses are about local residents “going big”, to see if they’re lucky or not.
