Men connected to Springfield game rooms charged with racketeering – Springfield Daily Citizen

Two men with connections to former Springfield video lottery terminal game rooms have been charged with running an illegal gambling enterprise that extended across state lines.

Rahulkumar Patel and Preston Bustillo have been charged with the federal crime of interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Their operation involved a New York resident, a Georgia-based business and multiple game rooms in Springfield and Joplin, Missouri, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security led the investigation with help from the Springfield Police Department (SPD) and the Joplin Police Department (JPD), according to court records. The charges stem from an alleged illegal gambling operation that generated more than $9.5 million at locations in Springfield, Branson West and Joplin.

Federal prosecutors say the men failed to pay taxes on most of that money and their businesses attracted other crimes like assaults, robberies and drugs.

During a monthslong investigation that spanned multiple Missouri cities, authorities have laid out the formation of an illegal gambling enterprise by a Georgia-based business that had storefronts in Springfield. When a multi-agency investigation shut down the Springfield game rooms in March 2024, the operation moved to a storefront in Joplin, according to court records.

Patel and Bustillo were arrested in Joplin on Nov. 1, 2024. Patel is being held in the Greene County Jail with no bond and faces up to 14 years imprisonment. Bustillo was released on a personal recognizance bond.

Multi-month game rooms investigation that spanned states, Missouri cities

Just a month after Springfield passed an ordinance banning “no-chance” games, also known as video lottery terminals (VLTs), in February 2024, law enforcement agents from multiple agencies carried out an investigation involving game rooms in Springfield, according to previous Springfield Daily Citizen reporting. But Springfield police said these racketeering charges are not related to the city’s ordinance banning VLTs.

On March 19, investigators in Springfield encountered Patel at Spin Hitters 1, LLC, located at 838-840 S. Glenstone Ave, according to court records. Three days later, Springfield officers saw three Penske trucks parked outside of Spin Hitters, where people were loading gaming machines into the back of the vehicles. Later that day, a Springfield officer saw the same trucks parked near Big Win Arcade #1, located at 1928 S. Glenstone Ave. in the Plaza Shopping Center.

According to records subpoenaed from Penske, the trucks were registered to Georgia-based business, DNP Enterprise. Authorities allege that another Georgia-based company distributed illegal gambling machines to Big Win Arcade and Spin Hitters.

After the police raid on the Springfield businesses, the illegal gambling operation moved to Joplin, according to court documents. On Sept. 6, Joplin police were tipped off to an illegal gambling business at 2331 E. 7th Street. When investigators visited the business, Spin Zone, Patel identified himself as the manager.

On Sept. 6, Patel told investigators that after the gambling operation he was managing in Springfield was raided by police, he came to Joplin to manage Spin Zone, according to court records. Patel told investigators that the business collected up to $900 each day and was open 24 hours each day. Patel identified Mitulkumar Barot as his boss and owner of the business.

A business license for the Joplin enterprise was registered to Georgia-based Barot. The application said 98 “amusement arcade machines” would be operated at the Joplin business, according to court records.

Investigators told Patel that Spin Zone was an illegal gambling business that was operating in violation of Missouri law, and Patel claimed he would shut the business down, according to court records.

Spin Zone continues operations in Joplin

On Sept. 24, Joplin police and other investigators returned to Spin Zone and found the business remained open with gambling machines in operation. Investigators found manager Nitin Gujjar, who said he managed the business 12 hours a day and his partner, Abhishek Abhishek, managed it for the remaining 12 hours. Both managers stated they had been in the U.S. for six months and were seeking political asylum from their home country of India.

Gujjar stated the business had $1,500 of funds at the store and told investigators the previous manager, Patel, had left Missouri, according to court records. Investigators told Gujjar that the business was operating in violation of Missouri law and left.

On Oct. 16, undercover officers went to Spin Zone to conduct a controlled operation that confirmed “the video gambling devices inside the business operated like traditional slot machines,” according to court documents. There were issues with cash-out amounts matching the winnings displayed on the machine.

“If the officers pressed the wrong box” to print a winning ticket, “it would print out a ticket of lesser value than what the machine displayed,” an investigator wrote in the criminal complaint. “Further, the officers found upon turning the ticket into be cashed by the employees of the business, the employee would round down the winnings to make it an even dollar amount.” (For example, the business would pay a customer $5 for a ticket worth $5.63).

Warrants served in Joplin, investigation concludes in arrests

On Oct. 23, search warrants were served at the business in Joplin and the homes of the business managers, according to court documents. Investigators seized 47 hard drives from gambling devices, just under $4,400 cash, and financial documents and handwritten notes showing tens of thousands of dollars passing through the business. Three suspects were arrested and charged with promoting gambling in the first degree.

After the warrants were served, the owner of the building that housed Spin Zone contacted investigators and told them the business also rented a Joplin warehouse. The owner of the buildings told police he was under the impression the business was operating legal gambling machines at the leased location.

On Oct. 31, members of the SPD, JPD and Homeland Security Investigations began surveillance in Joplin, according to court documents. Patel was observed at the Joplin warehouse the business used for storage. A Penske truck was rented in Georgia, with Bustillo as the driver.

On Nov. 1, the Penske truck arrived at Spin Zone, where Bustillo was observed moving gambling machines from the casino-style business. It was later identified that 25 machines were held in the truck.

When Bustillo and Patel both arrived at Spin Zone, authorities entered the business and detained all the occupants. Around noon, Patel and Bustillo were separately warned of their Miranda rights and arrested.

Bustillo waived his right to remain silent, according to court documents. Bustillo said he traveled from Georgia to Joplin and allegedly said he knew the machines he would be loading in Joplin were gambling machines. Bustillo said he had known Patel for one year and that he had traveled to Springfield in March to remove gambling machines from another business.

Defendant labeled flight risk due to impact of criminal enterprise, immigration status

Federal prosecutors have labeled Patel a flight risk due to the economic impact of the crime, the length of the possible sentence and his immigration status, as Patel is not a U.S. citizen, according to court documents.

Patel was directly responsible for day-to-day operations of an illegal gambling enterprise that generated at least $9,506,404 in revenue at locations in Springfield, Branson West and Joplin, according to court documents. Bustillo and his co-conspirators allegedly participated in a wire fraud scheme that defrauded the City of Springfield of tax revenue.

“The defendant and his co-conspirators reported 2023 gross revenue of $463,235 across four locations, when, in fact, these locations generated at least $5,638,157 between June 4, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2023,” Assistant United States Attorney Michael Oliver said in a motion for pretrial detention.

On top of the economic harm of the criminal conduct, Patel’s alleged criminal enterprise harmed the public safety of the community, according to the court document.

“Springfield Police department officers responded to calls for service involving assault with a firearm, strongarm robbery, and drug overdose events directly related to the operation of this illegal gambling business at 838-840 S. Glenstone Ave.,” Oliver said in the motion.

Gary Wilson, a Springfield-based attorney representing Patel, declined to comment on the case Nov. 12. A media representative of Homeland Security Investigations did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Ryan Collins

Ryan Collins is the business and economic development reporter for the Springfield Daily Citizen. Collins graduated from Glendale High School in 2011 before studying journalism and economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He previously worked for Bloomberg News. Contact him at (417) 849-2570 or rcollins@sgfcitizen.org. More by Ryan Collins