KHON – Hundreds of criminal charges were filed after a huge crackdown on sweepstakes machines, and authorities warn customers could be next. Last Thursday, a grand jury returned a 414-count indictment against nine people — three establishment owners and six employees. The list of criminal charges includes promoting gambling and money laundering. Several were arrested Friday and two more, Quentin Canencia and Desiree Haina, were booked late Monday afternoon. The last two people, Mike Miller and Mike Madali, are on the mainland and will be arrested when they return to Hawaii, according to Kaneshiro. Monday afternoon, the city prosecutor and…

Star Adviser – A federal judge has ruled the sweepstakes gaming machines police have seized from several arcades on Oahu violate the state’s gambling laws. In a ruling on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi said “no reasonable jury would believe plaintiff’s story” that the gaming machines sell a legitimate product — a discount coupon to purchase merchandise on a website — and offer free sweepstakes only as a way to attract customers. Kobayashi said that the amount of coupons bought compared with the lack of coupons being redeemed showed that customers were using the Products Direct Sweepstakes game machines…