Biddeford Eagles fined $15,000 for illegal gambling

ALFRED – Biddeford Eagles Aerie 804 has been fined $15,000 after pleading guilty Tuesday in York County Superior Court to a felony charge of unlawful gambling.

The penalty apparently resolves for the fraternal organization complaints filed as the result of a Maine State Police drive against unlawful gambling in York County.

The Eagles case stemmed from a raid in June 1999 when state police seized video gambling machines, bar receipts and cash.

The state took administrative steps to suspend the club’s license to operate games of chance for six months. As part of those proceedings, the club admitted it used video gambling machines illegally by paying out cash prizes at the bar.

Last October, Edmund Burke, 57, pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling business and was sentenced to eight months in jail for distributing video poker machines used for illegal gambling at nearly two dozen social clubs in Maine, including the Biddeford Eagles.

He was fined $30,000 and sentenced to three years probation following completion of his jail sentence. At the same time, the Biddeford Eagles club was ordered to forfeit $70,800 and the six machines seized in the 1999 raid.

Court records show the club hid the gambling profits in various bank accounts for eight years, using the proceeds to build a new lodge and buy three apartment buildings.

The Eagles’ guilty plea followed additional indictments of individuals, clubs and vendors last month.

Eighty-one people, three businesses and six fraternal and veterans organizations were indicted on more than 180 counts of illegal gambling as part of the gambling crackdown in York County.