Cincinnati Police Raid Poker Game, Seize $1 Million

Local authorities don’t care for high-stakes underground poker in Cincinnati.

A raid on a poker game at a local business in the West End area of Cincinnati, Ohio, netted police stolen merchandise, drugs, and more than one million dollars in cash this weekend.

Local police and sheriff’s deputies were joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigations when they raided Duke’s Place, a restaurant and convenience store owned by Derek Ragan, early Sunday morning. More than 100 officers stormed the business, which they say has been hosting illegal, high-stakes poker games for several years. Inside they say they found guns, drugs and more than $1 million in cash. Sixteen people were arrested on gambling charges. Ragan was not at Duke’s Place at the time of the raid, but he later turned himself in.

The 40-year-old Ragan appeared in Hamilton County Municipal Court this morning with his attorney, Richard Goldberg, who said that the poker game that spurred the raid was not illegal because Ragan didn’t charge for admission and didn’t take a rake from the games. “These are relatively low-level felonies,” said Goldberg. “Someone must have had a bad night playing poker – or a good night, depending what side you are on.” 

That bad night of poker has translated into a $1.25 million bail bond for Ragan, whom authorities say is feared in his Cincinnati neighborhood. They have charged him with operating a gambling house, money laundering and having a gun after a previous conviction. He will remain in jail while police build their case against him.