Woman Accused of Running Illegal Lottery Inside Booth At North Miami Store

Miami-Dade, Florida (April 9, 2024) — According to local media reports a woman is facing charges after police said she ran an illegal lottery out of a booth inside a North Miami convenience store.

NBC6 reported today that Yeimy Yiceth Fuentes-Zavala, 32, was arrested Monday on charges including setting up, promoting or conducting a lottery and bookmaking, Miami-Dade jail records showed.

According to an arrest report, Fuentes-Zavala was conducting the illegal lottery, also known as a Bolet, out of a store on Northwest 119th Street.

“She was the only person inside the booth conducting illegal lottery transactions with multiple customers within the business,” the report said.

The winning numbers were determined by comparing customers’ wagered numbers to future New York, Georgia and Florida lotteries. Customers could also wager on sports events, police said.

An undercover officer went into the business on Thursday and paid $20 for lottery tickets that had the date, time and serial numbers, with the words “M&J Lottery” printed at the top, the report said.

On Monday, police executed a search warrant at the business and found Fuentes-Zavala inside the booth in the process of selling the illegal lottery tickets to customers, the report said.

The search turned up illegal lottery tickets, sports betting tickets, a computer running the illegal lottery program, ticket printers, payout menus and cash, which was all seized and impounded, the report said.

Fuentes-Zavala was arrested and booked into jail. Attorney information wasn’t available.

SOURCE: NBC6.