A raid by federal agents in Lansing Thursday morning is connected to two shootings at illegal gambling parlors.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confirms it conducted the sweep with the help of Lansing and State Police.
Sources tell News 10 the shootings happened within the last two weeks, one of them occurred at a strip mall on Southland Avenue near the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Our source tells us there is an illegal online gambling business in that strip mall.
Lansing has been working for months to shut down multiple gambling operations.
The city hasn't been able to do anything because technically there was no ordinance against it and the state doesn't have the manpower to investigate.
City officials say they now have the power to shut down illegal gambling establishments.
“We have these establishments sprouting up all across the city so it was actually a request of the chief you know to actually create a local ordinance that local authorities could use to enforce”, said third ward Councilmember Adam Hussain.
This week the Lansing City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting the act of playing, dealing or operating games of chance in exchange for anything of value like money, credit or property.
News 10 has been following the development of the ordinance.
Earlier this month Cryss Walker sat down with Councilmember Hussain to talk about the issue of illegal gambling in the city.
“We have two on South Waverly and we have one in Logan Square”, said the councilman.
“We have one on Southland behind McDonalds that's on South MLK. We have another one further down on South MLK that's across the street from the old Metro Bull.”
The ordinance bans any game played with cards, dice, machines and computers.
It does not apply to gambling that is licensed by the state.
Violation of the gambling ordinance is a misdemeanor offense.
