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Alleged Illegal Gambling Scandal

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September 18, 2006

Gaming machines in Hinton fall in legal ‘gray area'

HINTON — The brother of District Attorney Bret Burns is a supplier of electronic gaming machines to stores in the state, including some within Burns’ jurisdiction.

Bret Burns is the district attorney for Caddo County and the brother of Chase Burns, who operates an Anadarko-based company, OK Coin, that supplied games to an Interstate 40 travel plaza in Hinton. Hinton and Anadarko both are located in Caddo County.

Bret Burns oversaw a raid earlier this month at the Chickasha Elks Lodge, during which gambling machines were seized. He has said local law enforcement officials - including Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen - provided protection to the lodge and helped decide who got to play the games and who didn't.

He has called on McMullen to resign.

Burns said he didn't know his brother supplied electronic games within his district and said his brother has told him most of his business is in Alabama and South Carolina.

One difference between his brother's games and the Elks Lodge games, Bret Burns said, is that his brother's games offer an item of value for each play, a four-minute phone card.

Another is that his brother's games are in open, public places, available for inspection by public officials, while the Elks Lodge games were “hidden in a back room, and only a select few people were allowed to play. They wouldn't even let all the Elks play,” he said.

McMullen declined comment, but he has said the reason for the Elks Lodge raid was Bret Burns' “long-standing animosity” toward him. Bret Burns said that is not the case.

The games like those at the Hinton Travel Plaza - one of which offers a jackpot of $9,000 - fall into a gray area of state gambling laws, according to their makers and suppliers, but some state prosecutors wonder if the machines are legal.

The items of value offered by the machines, such as the phone cards, are “worthless,” said Pam Hammers, a Creek County prosecutor who is considering misdemeanor charges against three store clerks after some games were seized in May.

“Nobody plays these games for the phone cards,” she said.

Hammers and Bret Burns both said the law about such machines need clarification.

“I think there are loopholes in the statute that people are smart enough to figure out how to get around Oklahoma law,” Hammers said.

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Alleged Illegal Gambling Scandal
  • Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose A District Judge has thrown out the cases of two suspects in the Elks Lodge alleged gambling case.

    April 14, 2007

  • Motions filed in Elks gambling case The attorney for Sheriff Kieran McMullen has filed two objections in the ongoing gambling case.

    April 11, 2007

  • Sheriff to face trial on felony charge Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen was bound over for trial on one felony and two misdemeanor charges Tuesday.

    March 28, 2007

  • Bound over Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen did not get his day in court on Friday, as his attorney, David Autry, was reportedly tied up in court in Oklahoma City. That did not prevent Special District Judge Ken Harris from listening to the rest of the evidence against former Chickasha Officer Helen McMullen and Deputy Robert Cacy, co-defendants in the case involving alleged gambling at the Elks Lodge.

    March 17, 2007

  • Another delay The preliminary hearing for Sheriff Kieran McMullen will now stretch into its third month.

    February 24, 2007

  • One suspect pleads guilty The courtroom circus is over for one of the defendants in the Elks Lodge gambling case, after pleading guilty to a felony charge.

    February 24, 2007

  • Loophole tightens into a noose The same loophole used to protect Attorney Steve Buzin’s client from self-incriminating statements, forced him to testify Friday.

    February 24, 2007

  • Testimony continues in gambling case Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen spent the day in District Court Wednesday, the second day of his preliminary hearing.

    February 22, 2007

  • Sheriff’s hearing resumes Wednesday Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen back in the courtroom Wednesday.

    February 22, 2007

  • Loophole upheld District Attorney Bret Burns will have to take his battle to a higher court in an attempt to charge a local deputy with gambling.

    February 9, 2007