Four Men Charged For Allegedly Operating an Illegal Gaming House

Four men have now been charged after an illegal gaming investigation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – British Columbia’s (CFSEU-BC) Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team (JIGIT) resulted in a search warrant on a business on July 4th, 2020.

In October 2019, CFESU-BC JIGIT began an investigation into a suspected illegal gaming house operating in a Burnaby business called “Big Shots Café”.

On the evening of July 4th, 2020 CFSEU-BC JIGIT, with the assistance of the CFSEU-BC’s Uniform Gang Enforcement Team (UGET) and the Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team (LMDERT), executed a search warrant at the business and located several individuals participating in activity that appeared to be that of an illegal gaming house.

Seized from the business were items such as; poker tables, slot machines, cash, poker chips and playing cards.

A charge of keep a common gaming house or common betting house contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada has now been laid against four males;

• Francisco Batista PIRES, 57-year-old resident of Burnaby
• Richard William KOSTERMAN, 58-year-old resident of Delta
• Jay Arnold Damian FRANCO, 40-year-old resident of New Westminster
• Andrew David MACFARLANE, a 36-year-old resident of Burnaby

“Illegal gaming, and the locations that allow them, have been the root of other criminal offences that impact the safety of the public. It is a criminal offence to be involved in the active participation of illegal gaming and in British Columbia, all gaming activity that may result in a form of financial gain to those involved in its operation, must be sanctioned by the Province of British Columbia’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch (GPEB),” says CFSEU-BC Media Relations Officer Sergeant Brenda Winpenny.

As this investigation is now before the courts, no further information will be released.

The CFSEU-BC would like to thank the Burnaby RCMP and Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team for assisting with this investigation.

Media Spokesperson: Sergeant Brenda Winpenny
Cell: (604) 838-6800