Gambling ring in suburban Delaware

MIDDLETOWN, Del. - February 27, 2008 Middletown police are betting no one in the upscale suburban neighborhood expected to find a high stakes poker operation with topless waitresses and dealers in their midst, but that's exactly what investigators found at a neighborhood home, while answering complaints about cars parked on the streets all hours of the day and night.

"People would come home and couldn't get on their street. They'd have to park a block away," Middletown Police Chief Henry Tobin said.

It didn't take cops long to figure out what was going on inside.

They confiscated gaming paraphernalia that included chips for customers who paid a thousand dollars to play. A website for Elite Poker Inc. was also part of the operation. It was all linked to 37-year-old William Anderson and his wife Laurie who reportedly worked at a gentlemen's club when she wasn't topless, dealing cards and serving alcohol to customers at her own house.

All this happened while the couple's three children were upstairs.

William Anderson allegedly started the underground Texas hold 'em business.

"Basically, he was living on the money that he was making from these games, paying his bills, buying cars," Chief Tobin said, "The basement was set up almost like a casino type setting; it had a bar with tap beer."

Neighbors were reluctant to talk about what happened on their street and police think they know why. It seems many have played a friendly game themselves at the Anderson's home, but that was before it morphed into a money making, sometimes topless business

Along with illegal gaming, the Anderson's have been charged with endangering the welfare of their children and more charges are pending.