Man fined $10,000 over illegal gambling at Burnaby's Big Shots Café
Francisco Batista Pires pleaded guilty to a lesser offence after a police raid found slot machines, a gaming table and cash at the Hastings Street café.
A man accused of running an illegal gaming operation at a Burnaby café has been fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
Francisco Batista Pires, 62, of Vancouver pleaded guilty to providing gaming services without being a registered gaming worker. The court also imposed a $1,500 victim fine surcharge.
Pires and Angelo Giuseppe Freda of Burnaby had each been charged in March 2025 with one count of keeping a common gaming house at Big Shots Café, at 3980 Hastings St. in North Burnaby. The Crown stayed that charge against both men after Pires entered his plea.
Raid in 2023
The Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. began investigating the café in early 2022, after receiving information suggesting illegal gaming was taking place there.
Officers raided the café in July 2023 and arrested 10 people. Police said they seized four slot machines, two of which had money inside, along with poker chips, cards, a gaming table, ledgers, a DVR, several cellphones and about $14,000 in cash.
It was not the first time police had targeted the address. In 2020, four men were charged over an illegal gaming operation at the same location.
In a CFSEU-BC news release, Sgt. Sarbjit K. Sangha said illegal gaming houses are "often linked to crime and money laundering, creating real risks to public safety and community well-being."
Legal gambling in British Columbia takes place at licensed and registered venues such as casinos, community gaming centres and bingo halls, operated with registered gaming workers. Slot machines and card games run outside that system are illegal under the Criminal Code.