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The state of Florida is investigating a gambling operation that is trying to set up shop in Lake County.

News 13 was the first to report about the charity gambling concept that one company is pitching to the city of Minneola, and now News 13’s Heather Sorentrue has uncovered some serious questions about that proposal.

The concept of card games that bring in thousands of dollars for local non-profits in a stumbling economy sounds almost too good to be true. But that is the pitch a company called Florida Charity Gaming made to the city of Minneola this week.

“I just don’t want to slam the door on anything that could be such a potential for our city,” said Vice Mayor Sue Cordova.

City leaders in Minneola have been trying to get a pari-mutuel gambling facility into the area with cards, slots, and a horse track. It was the media attention from that story that led James Abel, of Florida Charity Gaming, to pitch his own gambling idea to Minneola’s city council.

“There’s a business model that we have that I thought might be a unique fit for them,” Abel said.

News 13 found problems in the proposal Abel gave to the city, including his saying that a gaming agent with the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco gave the OK for the project. News 13 checked and she turned out to be an administrative assistant.

When News 13 showed the documents to an ABT supervisor, he said he had serious concerns.

Card games have a considerable following in Lake County, and the city of Minneola wants to capitalize on the demand, especially if it can help non-profits in the area. But it still remains to be seen if this plan is legal.

“Basically, you have three elements to gambling — which is prize, consideration and chance and I believe all three elements are present. What they try to do is to take away the prize consideration by using what they say are non-valued gaming chips. However, at the end of the night it is my understanding that these chips can be cashed in for some sort of cash prize or gift certificate that has a value,” said Lt. John Szabo, of the ABT.

Szabo said that is against Florida’s gambling laws.

“All we’re doing is creating a dedicated facility that brings the public to the fundraiser, rather than the fundraiser to the public. That’s the crux of the operation. I have no intention of skirting Florida law so delicately that I will have gaming agents or law enforcement agents knocking on our door or looking for every possible code violation to shut it down,” Abel said.

But it could be a big hurdle just to get a facility like that opened up.

Abel is also trying to get a facility up and running in Brevard County and he is tied to one in Daytona Beach. He said the State Attorney’s office in Brevard gave the go ahead on their plans.

News 13 checked on that statement and the attorney Abel said gave the OK said he has questions about its legality.

Abel is slated to go before Minneola’s City Council for a second time on April 22. City leaders say they expect a lot more information.

A BANK is suing Crown casino to recoup $3.5 million of stolen money gambled by one of its former loan officers.

The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank claims Crown ignored the fact the pokies addict could not afford to put millions of dollars into the machines.

Kate Leanne Jamieson, who is serving four years’ jail for fraud, told her court trial she was courted by the casino as a VIP, with free meals and accommodation, limousines and tickets to major events.

She told the judge who sentenced her to seven years: “I was totally seduced by (VIP rewards) because this was a side of life I have never seen before.”

Jamieson’s defence lawyer, Bernie Balmer, believed it was the first time a bank had tried to recover money stolen and gambled away by an employee in Victoria.

“If successful, it will open the floodgates for more actions (against the casino and gaming venues),” he said.

In a Supreme Court writ lodged on April 1, the bank alleged the casino:

“WILFULLY shut its eyes to the obvious fact” Jamieson had stolen all or most of the money she bet at Crown.

“WILFULLY and recklessly failed to make such inquiries as an honest and reasonable person” would make as to the source of the funds wagered.

KNEW of circumstances that would have indicated Jamieson was gambling with stolen money.

The writ said the bank wanted to recover the $3.5 million Jamieson stole from July 2001 to May 2004.

Michael McNamara, of the Law Institute of Victoria, said the bank would force Crown to reveal what it knew about Jamieson.

That could include that she was a bank loans officer, lived in the northern suburbs and survived on her income.

“There are only several suburbs in Melbourne where houses are worth $3.5 million, let alone people who have $3.5 million in cash to gamble,” Mr McNamara said.

He said if it was revealed Crown was aware of her circumstances, the question would be whether that knowledge should have started “alarm bells ringing”.

He said Crown might claim it did not suspect the money was stolen because it assumed a bank would have a system in place to stop fraud.

Jamieson, a mother of two from Lalor, told the County Court in 2006 she took up to $20,000 cash to each gambling session during the height of her addiction.

The court heard Crown made a $1.5 million profit on the $3.5 million she gambled.

Crown declined to comment yesterday.

In a statement to the court, Jamieson said she accepted Crown’s VIP status and received free meals, accommodation and tickets to events such as the Australian Tennis Open and Grand Prix.

She shifted $22 million between accounts over four years to hide her thefts.