Probation issued in gambling case

The former owner of the Chicot Game Room in Mabelvale was sentenced April 3 to two years of probation after agreeing in October to forfeit the property, his Chenal Circle home and more than $1 million that was traced to gambling proceeds, as well as pay $331,821 in back taxes on the proceeds.

Allan Siebert, 75, pleaded guilty Oct. 20 to charges of tax evasion and operating an illegal gambling house.

IRS agents raided the Chicot Game Room at 14124 Chicot Road in May, and then filed a petition to seize the building and Siebert’s two homes, one at 44 Chenal Circle and the other in Orange Beach, Ala., alleging that he used illegal gambling proceeds to buy all three.

The money that was traced to gambling proceeds included $955,741 from the sale of the Alabama condominium, about $100,000 seized from two bank accounts and $15,895 in cash seized May 8 from the gambling hall.

Siebert had owned and operated the gambling hall since at least August 2007 when it was raided, after an undercover investigation in which plainclothes police officers made a series of visits to the facility for more than a year, observing a large number of casino-style devices.

Siebert admitted evading paying $331,821 in federal income taxes between January 2012 and October 2016.

Siebert faced up to five years in prison and fines of up to $350,000 in connection with the criminal charges.