Step by step, Honolulu and the state have been raising the stakes against gambling operations that set up on Oahu. The tightened laws and aggressive enforcement are surely welcome, but the threat of violent crime and other related criminal activity that accompanies these illegal operations continues. It’s time to step up efforts yet again.
In May, a man was arrested for murder and attempted murder after a deadly shooting at a game room in Wahiawa. And over the past year, the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) has reported raiding game rooms more than 30 times — some after reopening at the same location.
The Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney has a full-time deputy prosecutor assigned to work on game room cases, coordinating closely with the HPD. But gaps remain, with questions on how city Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) inspectors and police officers who detect signs of gaming rooms — which are criminal to operate and prohibited under zoning law — can better coordinate to root out these crime hubs.
Resolution 143, headed to the full City Council for consideration, would form a “gambling room task force” to report on additional solutions. This is an advisable move, and the Council must approve it.
One concern for the City Council is that possession of a gambling device is only a misdemeanor offense under state law, and therefore the deterrent effect of raiding gaming rooms and seizing equipment is not as strong as it could be.
Another is coordination between departments. DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna properly spoke in support of a task force formation at the Council’s Committee on Public Safety meeting last week, indicating that this is an effort whose time has come.
The task force would be charged with studying the problem and submitting recommendations to the Council within 90 days of its formation. Its six members would include representatives from the DPP, HPD, Corporation Counsel and Prosecuting Attorney, and two Council members.
The task force formation comes against the backdrop of state legislation passed this year to eliminate a loophole allowing landlords who knowingly hosted a gambling operation to evade criminal penalties if they made any effort, no matter how insignificant or ineffective, to “prevent its occurrence or continuation.”
Senate Bill 2197, which is on the governor’s desk, is expected to be and must be signed into law. It tightens up statutory language so that landlords or gambling middlemen who direct operations without stepping into the gaming room itself can be prosecuted for advancement of gambling activity if they act with criminal “recklessness” or “negligence,” more easily proven. This statutory change comes on top of bills in 2022 that raised penalties to a felony for promoting gambling in the first or second degree, and eliminated the possibility of making a deferred acceptance of a guilty plea so that offenders could have charges wiped from their records.
Progress is being made, according to HPD. Police estimated that roughly 60 illegal game rooms were operating on Oahu in May — half the number open a year earlier, KHON reported. Police and Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm credit stronger penalties against landlords and gambling operators with a deterrent effect.
Yet this year alone, HPD reports seizing more than $1 million worth of gambling equipment — the value of 150-plus gaming machines — and related crimes, including this year’s shooting, continue. Forming a gambling task force to close holes in the net and capture additional criminal operators is well worth the effort.
