LANSING, August 13, 2009 – The Michigan Lottery’s Charitable Gaming Division has closed a location which operated illegal millionaire parties in Warren.

Hall of Fame Billiards, located at 5775 W. 13 Mile Rd. in Warren, was closed by Charitable Gaming for conducting millionaire parties on two evenings for which no event was licensed, also with the intention of keeping the proceeds. The misconduct was discovered by an undercover Lottery agent after the Michigan Lottery, in which the Charitable Gaming Division is housed, received an anonymous tip.

Hall of Fame representatives were invited to Lansing for an Informal Hearing on the matter and in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office, were confronted with the information obtained by the Lottery agent. They were then advised that their status as an approved location for millionaire parties would be permanently revoked.

Six charitable organizations had parties scheduled to be conducted in the future at Hall of Fame. They voluntarily surrendered their licenses for those events and were refunded their $200 application fee by Charitable Gaming.

Twenty-two other charities had applications pending to conduct parties at Hall of Fame. Those applications have been denied and the applying organizations have been refunded their fees.

Hall of Fame is one of the larger locations which conducted millionaire parties for qualifying locations, officials in the Lottery’s Charitable Gaming Division said. Hall of Fame Billiards averaged $13,000 in sales per day since January. For a four day event at Hall of Fame, a charity earned an average of $3,300.

Evidence gathered during the investigation will be turned over to the Warren Police Department.

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