Woman accused of loansharking at Encore casino
Quincy resident arrested after offering loans to those in trouble
Turns out a Quincy woman wasn’t the guardian angel Boston-area gambling addicts wanted her to be to lift them out of their financial holes.
Kimanh Le, 50, of Quincy, was arraigned this past week in Suffolk Superior Court on four counts of criminal usury — better known as “loansharking.” She was arrested in action at the Encore Boston Harbor Casino the day before following her March 31 grand jury indictment on the charges, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Prosecutors say that Le offered loans at 5% interest per day or 10% interest per week, which is well in excess of the state’s maximum annual interest rate of 20%. She allegedly offered the loans in the form of cash or casino chips and operated in other places in Suffolk and Norfolk counties, according to an attorney general statement.
Court documents in her case were not readily available for further details.
The Encore casino in Everett is one of the three casinos greenlit by the commonwealth in its Expanded Gaming Act of 2011, one casino for each of the state’s three designated geographical regions. The law stipulated that the commonwealth gets 25% of the gross gaming revenues of each location, according to the Massachusetts Gaming
Commission.
The state surpassed $1 billion in revenue from the casinos and other gaming established by the law last month.
In terms of revenue, March was the best month on record for Encore Boston Harbor, the third-best month ever for MGM Springfield and the secondbest month for Plainridge Park Casino since Encore opened, the Gaming Commission announced.
Encore brought in $64.87 million last month, MGM reported a haul of $24.28 million and Plainridge took in about $12.94 million in March.
Encore’s March gaming revenue translates into $16.2 million in state taxes and fees, MGM’s take will result in just more than $6 million for the state and Plainridge’s revenue will yield about $6.34 million for the state. In all, the state is due roughly $28.6 million in March gaming revenues and fees.