Warrants served at two Cherokee County Quick Stops by Kansas Racing & Gaming Commission

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. (KOAM) — The Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission (KRGC) served two search warrants at separate locations in the county on Tuesday.

The warrants were served simultaneously.

Sources say they were related to an illegal gambling operation regarding electronic gaming machines located at:

• Baxter Quick Stop , 902 Military in Baxter Springs, assisted by BSPD.
• Riverton Quick Stop , 7037 SE Hwy 66, Riverton, assisted by Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputies.

Both stores remain open as normal hours. Employees are not commenting on what occurred.

It’s not known how many electronic gaming machines were seized, if any, on Tuesday. However tipsters tell us investigators were there for hours.

These electronic gaming machines resemble slot machines one could play in a casino. According to the KRGC, in Kansas the only place these are legal include:

• State owned casinos
• Legally approved tribal casinos

This is part of a wave across the state as the KRGC are cracking down on illegal gambling operations in small-town, rural gas stations or smoke shops.

In pending cases store owners claim they only lease the space for the machine to a different company. That leaves a lapse of how taxes are reported and paid from those machines.

Machine owners claim they are legal. Generically they say the machines are ‘no-chance amusement machines,’ so they can operate through loophole actions of the specific machine.

At the two locations in Cherokee County there were no arrests.

We have reached out to the KRGC for comment but have not heard back as of news-time. This is a breaking news story, watch for updates here.