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Florida Gambling Den Owner Wants Confiscated $142K Back

The proprietor of Palm Beach Gardens' Golden Nugget Arcade is requesting that the $142,029 in cash that was taken from the establishment in September 2022—when it was closed for illicit gaming and money laundering—be returned to the relevant authorities.

According to The Palm Beach Post, Cynthia Patel, a resident of Dayton, Ohio, asserts that she bought the Golden Nugget six months prior to the police raid.

She wants the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida to require the city to return the money, arguing that it belongs to the firm that created it.

Crackdown in Florida

A series of operations against illicit slot machines at adult arcades around the state included the Golden Nugget as a target. Arcades had become more and more prevalent in strip malls and abandoned storefronts since the outbreak.

With the exception of a few pari-mutuel establishments in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the six reservations held by the Seminole Tribe, slot machines that award cash or prizes are outlawed in Florida.

The Golden Nugget was owned by Ralph Deluca, according to a Post article from the period. He entered a guilty plea in May 2023 to charges of money laundering, operating a gaming establishment, providing services to a gaming establishment, and producing, selling, or possessing coin-operated devices illegally.

He was given a 14-day sentence to serve and directed to pay $900 in court costs. Nicholas Fiore, the manager of the Golden Nuggets, entered a guilty plea to the same counts and was given an eight-day prison sentence.

An "Absurd" Case

The Post was informed by City Attorney R. Max Lohman that he found Patel's complaint to be unbelievable. She had given no proof that she owned the arcade, so he called it "highly suspect." He also called it "absurd," given that the money had been seized due to the company's legal infractions.

Through civil forfeiture, a legal procedure that enables police to recover property connected to crimes, the city filed to seize the money.

"If you make money selling cocaine, you don’t get the cocaine or the money back,” Lohman said. “In this case, the money is in fact the cocaine. The money wasn’t just the instrumentality of the crime. It is the crime.”

“While it is cash, it is contraband cash,” he added. “It is proceeds from an illegal operation.”

Circuit Judge Luis Delgado has the case set for hearing on August 23.