Magic Minutes owner pleads guilty to video gambling charges

For years, Larry W. Flynn fought against local and state law enforcement agencies who raided businesses and confiscated over 200 of his video gaming machines, arguing the machines, which used phone cards, were not gambling devices.

Flynn, 40, of Columbia, changed his story on Tuesday, pleading guilty in federal court to operating a gambling business with his video-poker machines and to tax evasion.

Flynn owned the company, Magic Minutes, that distributed video gaming machines to convenience stores, liquor stores, party shops and bowling alleys throughout the region.

“On the machines owned by Flynn – as well as others who paid to utilize the name Magic Minutes – users could buy a ‘voucher’ for phone minutes and then play blackjack, keno, poker, and other games of chance,” which was in violation of S.C. law, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said in announcing the plea.

Between 2010 and 2013, these machines generated significant income that Flynn took active steps to avoid paying taxes on, such as paying his employees in cash, not filing tax returns and living most of his professional and personal life on a cash-only basis, the government said.

The federal and state investigation into Flynn’s business was pulled into the larger probe into public corruption in Lexington County that ultimately brought down long-serving Lexington County Sheriff James Metts.

Flynn is a former special investigator for the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office in Columbia, a job he held for 15 years. He lost a Republican primary bid to be Kershaw County sheriff in 2010, and in 2006, while a Columbia resident, lost a race to be the Republican nominee for S.C. secretary of state.

In announcing the plea, Nettles said U.S. Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. will impose sentence at a future date.

The maximum punishment on both the gambling and tax evasion charges could send Flynn to federal prison for 10 years and see him fined up to $350,000.

Proponents of the online sweepstakes machines said they were allowed under a loophole in state law. Law enforcement argued they were illegal – banned when the Legislature outlawed video poker in 2000 in a move that took down a well-connected, multibillion-dollar industry.

The General Assembly passed a law in the spring of 2013 to close any potential loophole, if one existed.

Flynn was indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2014. In court the next month, his attorney, Bert von Herrmann of Conway, said Flynn had been caught up in the ongoing public corruption probe in Lexington County.

“(Flynn) is not the target,” von Herrmann said then. “It is much bigger than he is.”

Von Herrmann could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Magic Minutes owner pleads guilty to video gambling charges."