Chapter 996

Marion’s men rounded up all the customers from the back rooms and brought them forward. “Take them to the police station. Have Mr. Hardy interrogate them thoroughly,” Marion ordered. “Yes, sir.”

Watching batch after batch of customers being led away, Marion turned his attention to the staff pinned to the ground. “Are you going to talk, or do I need to make you?”

“I’ll talk,” one of them blurted out, lifting his head. “Sir, some of us dockworkers just wanted to make extra money. Someone said businessmen were investing in arcade centers. All we had to do was pay a franchise fee, and we could run our own business. The setup and machines were all taken care of. But there was a rule: only locals with connections could join.”

Marion’s eyes narrowed. “Connections? You mean my people?”

“Not just yours,” the man stammered. “The Potter family, the Osborne family, the Mathis family, and even the Frazier family. Any of them would do.”

Debra felt a chill run down her spine. This was designed to smear their names. If the mastermind couldn’t take them down directly, they’d start from the bottom, using their people to make money and then forcing them to clean up the mess. It was a clever and malicious plan to weaken their influence and reputation in Seamar City.

“And they just let you run the shops yourselves?”

“No, there was training. The machines were rigged to control how much we made. Inspectors came every two weeks to check on our earnings.”

“What’s your monthly turnover?”

“It varies. Our shop is small, so we make around 100 thousand dollars a day, sometimes more. Monthly, it’s in the millions.”

Debra couldn’t believe her ears. This small shop alone was raking in millions. Larger operations would make even more. She remembered what Andrew had said: “In one hour, I made 20 thousand dollars with just this deck of cards. How much do you think a casino makes in an hour?”

Andrew’s winnings were big because he played big. But here, even with smaller bets, the variety of games and the number of players meant the money kept rolling in.

“So, you give them half or a third of your earnings?”

“50-50. A lot of us got rich quickly. Owners of bigger shops make tens of millions a month. Sir, we were blinded by greed. Please, have mercy. We won’t do it again.”

Marion had always been protective of his people, which was why they were so loyal. But this time, he just glanced at them and said, “Take them to the police station.”

The men went pale, but they didn’t dare protest. Marion had made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate or protect those involved in gambling.