B.C.’s organized crime unit arrested 14 people after a raid on a former medical clinic in Saanich that had been secretly converted into an illegal gaming house described as a “mini casino.”
The former clinic on Cook Street just east of Quadra, was converted into a single large room and filled with electronic gambling machines and table games used for poker and dice, according to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit B.C. The medical clinic had closed in June 2022,
Staff Sgt. Lindsay Houghton, spokesman for the unit, said in an interview the illegal gaming house had been under investigation for about four months after police received a tip about suspicious activity at the property.
Houghton said the gaming house could have been in operation for a year or even longer, but the timeline won’t be known until the illegal-gambling unit at combined special forces goes through all the evidence, including paper and electronic evidence, that is being seized.
He said if items such as safes are found, they may take time to open and forensic accountants will help decipher the information.
No weapons had been found as of Friday.
Houghton said members of the special enforcement unit are still searching through the property collecting evidence and will likely be at the Cook Street location through the weekend.
Neighbours said they had seen regular activity at the former clinic for more than a year.
Carl Cavanagh, a nearby resident who has run an informal neighbourhood email chat for the past 27 years, said the activity in the old clinic started in June 2023. It had been closed and quiet for months and then suddenly there were lots of people around, and a lot more cars than usual on the site.
So Cavanagh said he went over to take a look.
“There were people on the porch, people having beers,” he said.
He said it wasn’t like it was noisy. “It was like a private clubhouse.”
The raid on Thursday afternoon included support from Victoria and Saanich police.
A witness said several men were seen sitting in chairs outside the building, including at least one in handcuffs, amid a number of unmarked and marked police cars.
Houghton said the suspects were questioned and released without charges, but will be re-interviewed in the days to come.
Charges could be coming as the investigation continues, he said.
“[The building] was basically all gutted out and open and turned into a little mini casino,” said Houghton. “It had electronic gambling devices and tables and dealers that you would use to play dice and card games. All of that [equipment] was seized.
“It was like a small [version of a] casino you would see in Las Vegas.”
Houghton said it’s too early to say if the illegal gaming house has ties to organized crime, as the investigation is in the initial stages.
He said it’s not as rare as people might think for such operations to turn up in quiet residential neighbourhoods, noting there was a recent raid on a home in Nanaimo and previous raids in Greater Victoria. But most, he said, are in the Lower Mainland.
“In many cases there are ties [to organized crime] because the money used by gamblers is often obtained by illegal means like loan sharking and it works its way to organized crime, which in many cases fuels the illegal drug trade,” said Houghton.
Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock declined comment on the raid and Saanich police referred questions to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
The former medical clinic, built in 1960, is owned by a numbered company and assessed at $2.246 million, B.C. Assessment records show.
The head of the Calgary company that owns the clinic property and three neighbouring homes said he was shocked by news of the raid and only heard about it when the Times Colonist contacted the company late Friday afternoon.
“This is the first I’m hearing about it,” said Gurveer Randev, who heads the Luxuria Group, a developer that builds about 250 single-family homes a year, as well as apartment complexes and commercial units in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.
Randev said the clinic space was rented out through a property management company, Colliers Victoria, and he did a walk-through “a few months ago.”
He said the new tenants were playing video games and board games in the clinic building, but he “had no idea” it was going to be an alleged illegal gambling site.
He said the space was being rented out for $3,000 a month until the company’s new development could get underway.
Randev said the company is planning to build a six-storey residential building on the four lots of land with about 80-plus units. The new development has plans for a clinic and coffee shop on the ground floor.
Recent changes to Saanich’s official community plan increased allowable building heights from four to six storeys in that area of Maplewood.
Randev said the company is currently finishing drawings to present to Saanich council later this year and, pending approval, could start construction later in 2025.
— With files from Carla Wilson
