Minnesota State Agency Accuses Brothers of Livestreaming Slots at Online Casinos for Illegal TikTok Scheme
Agency blows the whistle
the brothers collected fees to play slot machines for TikTok users
wads of cash … and slot machines rolling up occasional big jackpots”
The Star Tribune says the filing and archived videos reveal one of the men’s TikTok accounts had 165,000 followers and that the illegal operation was running for “the past three months” in at least one of the Online Casinos.aposta online
An AGED agent disclosed in a court filing that the brothers livestreamed themselves using TikTok’s video sharing function while playing slots at Mystic Lake Online Casino Hotel in Prior Lake and the Treasure Island Resort & Online Casino in Welch.
Minnesota’s Alcohol and mini game cassino online Enforcement Division (AGED) believes it has blown the whistle on the first crime involving suspects livestreaming Online Casino slot play for an illegal financial reward.
Eric Pehle, spokesman for the Prairie Island Indian Community and its Treasure Island Online Casino, said the scheme was “a new one on me.”
New crime on the block
Late last week the state agency accused a 39-year-old Edina man and his brother of running an illegal TikTok mini game cassino online scheme at Online Casinos in the Twin Cities area.
AGED spokeswoman Nicole Roddy said the agency had never encountered a case like the TikTok scheme before. The American Gaming Association (AGA) also said it had never heard of a mini game cassino online scheme like it, nor does it approve. AGA vice president for government relations Alex Costello, stated that “actions like this violate Online Casinos’ … anti-money-laundering protocols and are a threat to our financial system.”
Treasure Island also kicked the man out of its Online Casino on January 12. “While allowing social media influencers to broadcast from inside our property is allowed, placing bets for others is not,” said Clayton Tix, the commission’s executive director.
The state has not yet charged either man with a crime.
Placing bets on behalf of someone else violates state law.
Unlawful acts
While the affidavit doesn’t reveal the total amount of money lost and won via the illegal livestream mini game cassino online, video highlights from one brother’s page made it seem lucrative. Archives of the man’s TikTok page, the affidavit states, “show wads of cash … and slot machines rolling up occasional big jackpots, including one last month that topped $15,000.”
Mystic Lake Online Casino’s owner, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Gaming Enterprise, said in a statement that it allows livestreaming provided its “limited to the guest and their own party.”
According to the Star Tribune, court filings show AGED is undertaking an ongoing investigation into allegations that the brothers collected fees to play slot machines for TikTok users. In the search warrant affidavit, DAGE said one brother used cash apps to allow him to charge bettors an initial $5.99 subscription fee and “$25 that he keeps for every $100 deposited for wagering.”
Pehle said the Prairie Island Gaming Commission was onto the TikTok suspect when it started getting tips about his actions on January 6. The commission banned him from Treasure Island on January 9, the same day the state got a tip from Las Vegas that the pair were livestreaming “from Online Casinos over various TikTok accounts and collecting money from followers to be played in slot machines.”