Investigating Illegal Gambling (Full Episode) | Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller | Nat Geo

[cheering] [Michael] I had my first big win at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. ♪ ♪ God came down and said, "Michael, the answer to all of your financial problems are the slots." And as I'm sitting there, all of a sudden... [bells ringing] ...bells start going off. I had hit the jackpot. I won $100,000. And that feeling was just one of complete bliss. People would come by and touch me. From that day on, I was known as Mr. Lucky. [Mariana van Zeller] They call it "the big win." The potent rush of money won versus money earned. And gamblers have been chasing it for generations. [screaming] [Sharon Stone] Yes! [Mariana] Even Hollywood has played into this fantasy. [George Clooney] I'll raise you 2,000. [James Gandolfini] Kinda high stakes for you, no? [Mariana] America's legal gambling industry rakes in over $200 billion a year, but for some bookies and bettors, it's not enough. [Gambler] I'm competitive and I like to win. In gambling, it's really clear whether you're a winner or you're a loser. [Mariana] Black market games and casinos are popping up all over the country. [Gambler] A lot of celebrities, a lot of politicians, and they all want a private place where they can just act however they want to act. [Mariana] Where fortunes are being lost and won... [Man] You're right. [Mariana] ...off the books and in the shadows. [Mariana] Yeah. It's quite interesting that we have to call you all the way from Mexico. Mexican journalist Miguel Angel Vega is an old friend and colleague who's helped me gain access to many criminal operators throughout my career. Tonight, 300 miles from Los Angeles, we're due to meet a cartel associate who's rumored to host an illegal poker game. What's his connection to the cartel? [dog barking] [Mariana] Well, thank you. He tells me to call him Tony. Originally from Los Angeles, he now lives here in an undisclosed part of Northern California. [Mariana] Before the game begins, all of the players must disarm. [Tony] Play some games. Despite Tony's admission that his clients are a mix of ex-cons, cartel associates, and possibly contract killers... Oh, wow. You guys start strong, huh? [Player] [bleep] it. [Mariana] ...tonight's stakes aren't particularly high, just a few thousand bucks. [Mariana] How much money did you make? [bleep] [players speaking Spanish] [Mariana] So are you seeing more of these underground games happening? [Mariana] The players tell me there are thousands of unlicensed casinos and underworld card games taking place in every city across the country. Have you ever been to any of those high-rolling illegal poker nights? [Tony] Yeah. [Mariana] Oh, my God. [Mariana] For years I've opened these doors and gained access to all manner of black markets. [gunshot] But these markets typically offer products or services that are outlawed. And that's what makes Tony's story so mysterious. Why is the underground gambling scene booming in the United States when a legal market already exists? I want to find out who's running these black market games and what the attraction is. [Mariana] Oh, yeah. There's more people coming. [Mariana] I'm riding shotgun tonight with Detective Juarez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. His team is conducting surveillance on a criminal network that operates multiple underworld casinos. So this is a big player that you guys have been tracking for a while that runs, you think, more than one illegal casino? [Mariana] And what can you tell me about this person? [Mariana] How many of these illegal casinos do you think exist in LA County? [Mariana] Wow. [Reporter] You're looking at security tape of SWAT officers serving a search warrant on an illegal gambling house inside an Anaheim furniture store. [Reporter] Dozens of people are busted in an alleged illegal gambling raid. Unregulated popup casinos have been magnets for criminal activity. [Reporter] Sheriff's deputies are investigating the shooting death of a man inside an illegal gambling establishment. [Reporter] A Brooklyn shootout that killed four people inside an illegal gambling club. [Mariana] Tonight's target is a type of illegal casino called a casita. Spanish for "little house." Casita profits aren't solely driven by old-fashioned card games but an upgrade in electronic gaming. [electronic whooshes and dings] [Officer] Okay. Stand by. [Mariana] The team spots one of the ringleaders, a woman, and decides to pursue her. [Juarez] Copy. [Mariana] Detective Juarez hopes this woman is going to lead his team to more casino locations. And if they're lucky, they'll take down the entire operation. [Mariana] The LA County Sheriff's Department is in pursuit of a woman suspected of running multiple underworld casinos. [Mariana] Detective Juarez lets the suspect get away for now. But nothing I witnessed tonight surprises me. [gaming machines burbling] Criminals and casinos have always gone hand in hand, perhaps most famously when a mobster named Bugsy Siegel helped build a city dedicated to gambling: Las Vegas, Nevada. ♪ I'm in love with a girl that I think is so fine ♪ [Mariana] Nevada was the first US state to legalize gambling. But, over time, Las Vegas cleaned up its act. They kicked out the mob. Then the corporations took over. Today, some form of gambling is legal in almost every state. And yet the underworld continues to take a piece of the action. [phone ringing] I want to know how it works, from the street-level games to the high roller events I heard about. But first, I need to find my way inside the scene. [Mariana] Hey, El. How are you doing? [Mariana] I'm about like five minutes from you now. We're close to South LA here. I'm going to meet a person, a contact that has some connections that run some of these operations. I think he might be here. So how does this game work? [Contact] It's just the typical rules of craps. You know, 7, 11, snake eyes. Your money has to be on the floor for the bet to be good, yeah. [All] Ooh! [Gambler] Another one of you... Have you seen like more of these underground gambling facilities pop up? [Contact] I would most definitely say that. [Mariana] Do you think we'd be able to get access to one? [Contact] Those things are like more hush-hush. If you want to tap in to certain stuff, there's a way to tap in. [Mariana] I have no doubt he's right, but at the moment, I'm definitely not tapped in to the right people. So I reach out to my underworld contacts across the country. [siren] [Mariana] Hey. Hi. [Mariana] They still, they're expecting us? I got the hood pass. Okay. It's becoming clear to me that the gambling underworld isn't controlled by a single criminal network. What's this game called? [Man] Four-five-six is the name of the game. Cee-lo. [Mariana] But just like the old casinos, gangsters are often the gatekeepers. [Mariana] So are these, a lot of these places controlled by gangs? Is there a lot of gang affiliation? You're looking at me... ...with intimidating eyes. Oh, I can see your eyes. The owner of this establishment tells me to call him Ray Ray and says he's a college graduate with a business degree. But he manages several dice games because, quite simply, they make a ton of money. Do people have to pay to come in here and play? [Mariana] So if there are so many legal options, places to go gamble, why do you think people prefer to come here? [Mariana] So is it, is it dangerous? Is it a dangerous business? [laughs] [Mariana] Ray Ray tells me this is the reason why casino security is so tight. In LA, a lot of gambling facilities have to pay the Mexican Mafia to be able to operate there. So, is there something similar here? Do you have to pay anyone? [Mariana] Got it. [Mariana] He refuses to tell me much more about his operation. But another one of my trusted Los Angeles sources comes through. [train horn blows] [bell ringing] [Mariana] We're meeting, um, a contact of mine that I've had here for, for many years now. He's an ex-convict. He's sort of linked to the Mexican Mafia. Gang member. This contact claims he can get me inside one of the underworld casinos, the casitas, that I've been hearing so much about. And it's kind of amazing just how hard it's been for us to get access to these casitas. But finally, tonight, it looks like something is going to happen. [airplane overhead] [Mariana] For weeks, I've been crisscrossing the country, searching for someone who can get me inside an invite-only illegal casino. And tonight, one of my sources, an ex-con with links to the Mexican Mafia, finally comes through. Hey, [bleep]. [beeping and warbling] [Mariana] Do you say "welcome to Vegas" to everybody that walks in, or just me? [Mariana] The owner of this underground casino tells me to call him B. He says he owns three locations like this one, open 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. So this place, if we weren't here... [Mariana] This machine is called a fish game... [beeping] ...and it's the main attraction at many of these casitas. Casinos like this are also called slap-houses for obvious reasons. I can't go as fast as you can. That's insane. God, my hands are hurting already. These fish games are simple to play and are programmed to deliver a jackpot when enough money has been paid into the machine. [Mariana] Really? Kind of cheating a little bit, no? [Mariana] When you didn't have these businesses, what were you doing? are you making here compared, how do you compare it to meth? [Mariana] You're making much more money now? Like what? Double? [Mariana] B claims he's making about $240,000 a month from his three casitas. So this is way more profitable? Why is that? [Woman] I was gambling every day, morning, noon, and night, before work, after work, even at work. The casino noise, it drowns out your life. The bang, zoom, the lights, it drowns out everything that you need to hear. And I couldn't stop. I could not stop. [Mariana] Scientists now know that gambling affects the brain much like drugs. When we gamble, our brains release dopamine, the "feel-good" chemical, and we experience a jolt of pleasure. But gambling is different than a drug-induced high, 'cause dopamine is released regardless of whether we win or lose. It's the thrill of taking risks that triggers the pleasure. Today, an estimated three million Americans cannot stop gambling. [Man] Technically, I am an addict, you know? Probably by the book, I'm probably an addict. It's literally like a drug. Once it grips you, it grips you, and it's hard to let it go. I think social media is the biggest factor in all of this. -43... -Yep. 44... Those guys are the face of gambling, and everybody's following their plays, everybody is following their advice. [Mariana] Social media is littered with people who claim to be astonishingly successful gamblers. Like this guy. [Mikki Mase] It's like 408. [Man] $408,000. [Mikki] We're gonna try to make this a million. [Logan Paul] Tonight? [Mariana] His social media handle is dirtygothboi, but he goes by Mikki Mase. [Mikki] How much did I win? [Worker] You won $3.1 million, give or take. [Mikki] Thank you, man. [Mariana] And he's rumored to be one of Las Vegas' biggest winners of all time. [Worker] We're not gonna allow you to play here. [Mikki] Why? [Worker] Because your play is too good for us. [Man] He racked it up for 373,000. [Mikki] Profit, 200,000. [Man] He took five grand and flipped it to 200 before I knew what the [bleep] happened. [Mariana] Mikki claims to come from a long line of "degenerate gamblers." He also says he was a heroin addict, spent time in juvenile prison, and worked on Wall Street. [Mikki] So my number one game is baccarat, but it used to be blackjack. [Man] He allegedly wins a lot of money at a game that no one in the history of casino gambling has beaten. [Man] In the long term, you're always gonna lose. [Mikki] If that was true, then why am I banned from the city of Las Vegas? [Mariana] There's an old saying about gamblers: Always assume everyone's bluffing at all times. But Mikki promises to show me a side of the underworld gambling scene I can't even imagine. [Man] Oh, up top. [Mariana] I've been searching for a gambler who can get me inside the big money, high roller card games. Mikki Mase is exactly this kind of player. We're getting close. He's someone who's fled the legal, sanitized Sin City casinos. In fact, Mikki calls himself a Vegas exile. So you're, literally you cannot go to any of the casinos in Vegas? [Mikki] I'm allowed in two casinos. [Mariana] Why? [Mikki] Winning too much. They all say something different. Some of them simply say, "Never come back to our property," and hang up the phone. Some of them say, "You've won too much and you're not losing it back, and you're bad for business." And some have accused me of cheating, but they can't figure out how. [Mariana] What's the most amount of money you've ever won? [Mikki] The most I've ever won in one session? [Mikki] $11,526,000. Every casino gives like a different bag when you win in cash. They give it to you in hundred-dollar bills, and they give it to you like packed in cellophane, and it slides perfectly into this bag. [Man] Are you [bleep] kidding me? The [bleep] vacuum seals! [Mikki] The only way to acquire one of these is you have to win half a million dollars from the Venetian or the Palazzo. [Mariana] All these bags are half a million dollars that you won? [Mikki] Yeah, I have more. I even cleaned them out three times. So we took whatever bags they had on hand, and they still ran out of bags, so, we'd have to use like pillow cases. [Mariana] I contacted several Vegas casinos about Mikki's claims, but they told me they refuse to comment on a guest's status. [Mikki] As the last few casinos started banning me, I said, "I can't gamble in Vegas anymore. What else can I do?" And I have a lot of friends that I know play in these private poker games. And I went and like was immediately like just enthralled with the environment. Something that movies haven't even depicted accurately. Maybe one day a week consistently I'd play and I'll throw in like a second or third game sporadically, but I will also just stop by because I like the free food and the women. [Mariana] [laughing] Who doesn't? [Mikki] Yeah. In the super high stakes games, you'll rarely have like a physical threat. [gun cocks] But in the lower level games, people have been shot and stabbed during the game. There's a lot of gangbangers and drug dealers and pimps, and those kind of guys, there's really no telling what some of them will do. [Mariana] Tonight Mikki has promised to get me inside one of these invite-only events. It's a game that hosts a mix of poker pros and white-collar professionals, but also gang members and cartel associates. The meeting point is inside a high-end apartment building in Downtown LA. He's right there. So if I'm doing a story about illegal gambling, this is definitely the right place to be? [Mikki] I would say LA is the mecca of illegal gambling. Hi, how are you? Mariana. From the moment I enter the penthouse apartment, it's clear that this is not your typical casino. About 20 male players, including Mikki, are seated around three poker tables, while 10 scantily clad poker girls, as they're called, service their so-called "needs." And what are the girls doing? What's their job there? [Mikki] Well, their job title is like server and massage girl. A lot of the women know their tips are better with the less clothes they wear and the more action they take in the backroom. Which means sometimes sex? [Mikki] Sure. [Mariana] Unfortunately, we're inside for maybe five minutes when I'm told our cameras aren't welcome after all. Okay. Yeah? They've ushered us into the bathroom. I think it's one of the most frustrating moments for us just to be so close to the action and yet not being able to actually see it. Luckily, I convince one of the poker girls to take a break and join me. When you first entered this world, was it shocking to you to find out? [Poker Girl] Yeah. I mean, given I came from like a lower income family, it's so crazy to see people gamble with money that's worth more than my parents' house. [Mariana] So how much money, more or less, do you make on a good night? [Poker Girl] On a good night I can make anywhere from like 2,000 to 2,500. The most I've made in a night is 5,000. That's pretty good money. -Yeah. Pretty good is an understatement. She says she pulls in roughly $40,000 a month, all of it made through tips, so it's off the books and presumably tax-free. [Poker Girl] I've never done anything extra in these games. [Mariana] Does that happen? [Poker Girl] Girls are full service, for sure. 110%. Players know the girls that are, so you kind of get picked less and you kind of get tipped less. I think it's kind of like what you're willing to do, I guess, for some money. [Mariana] But the poker girls aren't the only ones here trying to earn a living. And so as a dealer, you make more money in the underground scene than you do in the regular casino? [Queen] A lot more. This is the Queen of Poker, as she likes to be called. She's a former Las Vegas dealer who now pursues more lucrative opportunities hosting her own illegal poker games. [Queen] This is my gaming room here. Whoa, that's a lot of people. [Queen] Yeah. [Mariana] I can go play poker with my friends if I want to, and that's not illegal, right? So what part of it is illegal? [Queen] The illegal part is taking the rake. As the dealer runs the game, that's where the rake is taken, which is where the money is. [Mariana] I'm assuming the rake is, like, a percentage of what is being played? [Queen] Yeah, it's a percentage. Like at the casino. [Mariana] But only legal casinos are permitted to take a rake. Tonight's host will make roughly $80,000. So they're making a [bleep] ton of money. [shouting] [bleep] [bleep] [bleep] Suddenly we hear yelling from the other room. [shouting] [Mariana] [bleep] Okay. [Mariana] I've gained access to my first underground poker game. But instead of gambling, one of the players is making threats. [Mariana] Thankfully the out-of-control gambler is escorted from the penthouse. So let's talk about the drama. What happened? [Mikki] I don't know anything. I don't know. [Mariana] But there was a gun and there was a knife. [Mikki] I don't know. I don't know about a gun and a knife. I don't know anything. [Mariana] You mean you don't want to talk about it? [Mikki] No, there's nothing to talk about, I don't know. [Mariana] I mean, we all saw it. [Mikki] Well, I don't, then you can talk about it. [Mariana] Okay, but that, has that scared people, do you think? That's why some people left? [Mariana] Okay. It seems there's an unofficial code of silence around these games. But rumor has it that they were fighting over a $27,000 gambling debt. Is it difficult for you to get people to pay what they owe you? [Queen] Yeah, because people are not carrying 10,000, 20,000 in their pocket. You know? So you have to offer a credit or marker to keep a game going and make a good amount of money that's worth your time. are you owed, you think? [Queen] Half a million. [Mariana] You're owed half a million dollars? Do you think you'll get any of that money? [Queen] I'm working on it. [Mariana] Do you hire a person that can go and tell them? [Queen] There's collectors. [Mariana] Mm-hmm. [Gambler] Tell you what we doing. [Gambler] Back the [bleep]. What we gonna do? [Gambler] You don't know. You don't mother [bleep] know. This is what law enforcement is most concerned about. Not just the millions being made off the books, but the criminal activity associated with these games. [Newscaster] Illegal gambling now accounts for half of their murders so far this year. Have you ever heard of anyone, people that are contracted to be enforcers? [Mikki] Yeah, of course. Every day. [Mariana] Oh, that actually happens pretty often. [Mikki] Every day. Let's say you're at a game that's ran by the Russians. [Mikki] And you rob one of the Russians, they will bring somebody in from Russia to find you, collect the money, and then they return to Russia. [Mariana] Holy [bleep], that actually happens? [engine rumbling] [tires screech] [engine revving] [Mariana] The following evening, Mikki picks me up in a McLaren GT, a car with a very Mikki backstory. [Mikki] I had an argument with the vice president of one of the casinos. And so just to show him some attitude, I told him I was gonna win a million dollars that weekend and then go buy an exotic car. [Mariana] And you went back to the hotel and showed him. [Mikki] I parked it right in front. [Mariana] We're heading to a so-called "billionaire's game," an uber-exclusive poker game that Mikki plays in Beverly Hills. So this is a totally different ballgame from the game we went to the other day, right? [Mikki] 100%, it's not even, it's, like, not even comparable. Some people might end up buying in for maybe two or three million. [Mariana] Mikki tells me the game regularly hosts Hollywood A-listers, real estate moguls, oil tycoons, and even high level members of organized crime. [Mikki] You'll definitely recognize them, and it's not impossible that a lot of them could possibly recognize you. That's got me a little worried, because to gain access, Mikki's told the game runners that I'm his friend. No one knows that I'm a journalist investigating black markets. [Mikki] And there'll be a line of questions: What's her skill level? How long have you known her? To get a gauge if you're an appropriate character to be in our secret environment. This is our secret world we have. [Mikki] And so to let an outsider in is a pretty big deal. [Mariana] Unfortunately the cameras will not be able to follow us inside. Despite all his legal winnings, I have yet to understand why Mikki prefers to play in private, off-the-books games. Which is my biggest question about this whole thing is why are there illegal gambling dens, if gambling in general is more and more legal in America, everywhere? [Mikki] There's a lot of reasons why. So if we're the ones controlling the game and we are essentially the casino, we can not only dictate the rules of the game itself, but we also get the environment. You know, a lot of people want to party. We set up for certain women to be around. Politicians and movie producers and actors and hip hop artists and athletes, they all want a private place [Mariana] The US is home to roughly 700 billionaires, and tonight, according to Mikki, I'm looking at a few of them. I see 10 players seated around a large table. I can't name names, but there are some recognizable big shots present. Mikki says that there's at least $2 million at play. There's a chef serving whatever the player wants. There's champagne and single malts. Cigars. And though I don't see it, I'm told cocaine is also on the menu. Behind the players, about 20 seductively dressed women hover. And Mikki tells me that every once in a while the player will leave the table and head to a private room with one of these girls. And because of the money in play, tonight's host could be making hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's not just the rake that brings in money, it's the tips. Players tip the bartenders, the bookkeeper; each one of the girls can earn tens of thousands of dollars, and the house takes 50% of all of it. As I try to process this, approaches me and says, "Your face is so familiar. Do I know you?" [door slams] Well, that was insane. Um, yeah, I mean, it was... I don't even know where to start. Mikki said that the guy that actually runs this game went up to him and said, "So she's with you, right?" And Mikki said, "Yeah, she's with me." "She looks like a cop. Is she a cop?" And then that was the moment that I thought it was a good idea to probably leave. And to think that these places exist and are all around town, particularly here in Beverly Hills surrounded by these mansions. it's a side of the city that I've never seen and I didn't think existed. [Mariana] This morning, close to 100 sheriff's department officers prepare to take down seven different targets. They're all linked to the same gambling operation Detective Juarez's team was surveilling. And I'm in the thick of it. [Mariana] So it's 6:00 a.m., we're a block away from the target in a armored vehicle, part of a convoy of about eight vehicles. A couple of bulletproof vehicles like this one. The LA County Sheriff's Department is rolling deep today because of the violent history of the casinos' security: the Mexican Mafia. You see them? They're going over the fence here. [glass breaking] So they just broke through the window and are going through. [bark] Oh, look. They just brought somebody out of the house. The detainees are a mix of Asians and Hispanics, but it's unclear to me which ones are the players versus the casino operators. They're arresting, I think, the ninth person right now. So 10 people believed to be in the house. Two of them apparently fled, one of them was caught, and the other one is still on the loose. While it's never been easier to legally gamble in America, the 10 people here are so desperate to scratch that itch, they're playing at an illegal casino at 6:00 a.m. on a weekday morning. It's a frightening reminder that compulsive gambling is called "the hidden addiction" because, unlike drugs and alcohol, there are no physical signs. [Michael] In the last year I gambled, I went through over $1 million of clients' money. And when I did that, I swore to God that I was gonna pay that money back. [Mariana] Perhaps because of the secrecy and shame, compulsive gambling has the highest suicide rates of all addictions. [Michael] I remember the night that I went down to the office, I had a client's gun, and I took that gun out of the cupboard and I was going to end my life. [Woman] [sighs] I remember, um... mm... calling the suicide hotline and I wanted to kill myself, I really did. The phone rang... and it rang and it rang. [ringing] And I said, "God, if you help me, if you help me, I will do what's right." [Mariana] These two recovering addicts never gambled at an illegal casino. They didn't have to. It turns out America's most destructive gambling market may not be the one I've been following, the one that's happening in the shadows. It's the one that announces itself with bold, flashing lights. [Les Bernal] Predatory gambling is America's most neglected major problem. Right now you have advertising and marketing encouraging citizens to do this. [Gambler] Blackjack! Blackjack! [Les] Just to participate in a business that ultimately is gonna get them fleeced. Les Bernal is the director of Stop Predatory Gambling, a national advocacy network committed to exposing the truth about America's state-sanctioned gambling. [Les] This is a public policy that's based on cheating and exploiting citizens. This financial exchange is a lure that you might win money. All right? But it's mathematically stacked against you, so the longer you participate in it, the more money you spend in it, in the long term, it's not a question of if you're gonna end up losing all of your money; it's an absolute certainty you're gonna lose all your money. [Mariana] And while I've been trying to understand why the black market even exists, Les claims the answer is quite simple. [Les] You wouldn't have the massive amount of illegal gambling happening today if it wasn't for It's normalized gambling. If you ask anybody in the illegal gambling business, "Hey, is it a good thing that states are promoting gambling?" to a person, every single one of them would say, "Absolutely, it's great for business." [Mariana] According to Les, the biggest difference between these markets is that one of them receives the blessing of state officials. [Les] We sell $100 scratch tickets to people making $7.25 an hour. That's a government program. They're encouraging people to play a product that has been identified as addictive as opioids and cocaine. The business model is based on turning citizens into addicts. But while the US government spends more than $1 billion each year on treatments for drug and alcohol abuse, there's not a single cent of federal funding spent on America's growing gambling addiction. at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, and it's absolutely the worst thing that can happen to you.