The unofficial Loteria operates behind fake storefronts, and according to one police informant, it's been around since the 1980s.

PROVIDENCE — The storefronts blended into the bustle along Broad Street, Cranston Street and Prairie Avenue.

Their bright-colored signs and window posters advertised the sale of either “services” or “accessories,” such as cellphone cases or hats.

But inside the four South Providence stores, gamblers placed bets on an illegal version of the Dominican Republic’s lottery, based on the winning numbers drawn in the actual Dominican lottery, according to detectives from the Providence Police Department’s organized crime and intelligence unit.

In the aftermath of several raids in April, say detectives, numerous other illegal gambling rackets continue to operate behind fake storefronts. Providence police Maj. David Lapatin says he cannot estimate the number of “paper stores” in Providence, but the city has “quite a few.”

“There’s so much money out there being made with this lottery, they can’t stop until we stop them,” Lapatin says.

The detectives say it appears at least some of the suspected illegal gambling operations have the credentials of legitimate stores, in the form of a retail sales permit from the state Division of Taxation, even though they are not selling what they claim and they are not reporting any sales to the state.

The April raids, including searches at Yami Cell Phones on Broad Street, Vanidades Lumy on Cranston Street, and Moviles Y Mas on Prairie Avenue, recovered betting slips, other illegal gambling paraphernalia and almost $70,000 in cash, according to police.

The investigation of one store, Quisquevana 401 Multiservices, also on Broad Street, led detectives to a home in Warwick, where they say they found evidence of illegal gambling and an estimated $60,000 worth of fentanyl, a lethal drug blamed in 122 overdose deaths in Rhode Island last year.

The Loteria National is based in the Dominican Republic. The illegal lotteries here are independent versions of the foreign lottery that use the actual winning numbers drawn twice daily in Santo Domingo.

A New York Loteria racket investigated by federal agents in 2012 also made use of small stores, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In Rhode Island, says Providence detective Sgt. Nick Ludovici, the unofficial Loteria is “highly organized.” One informant, he says, told him the illegal lottery has been running since the 1980s.

The racketeers, he says, use computer software to organize and coordinate the gambling and to print detailed tickets.

People gamble $20 to $50 on each lottery, he says.

Those who win less than $3,500 can immediately collect their cash payouts, Ludovici says. Those who win more than $3,500 typically receive their money the following day, he says.

That's much faster than the validation process for prizes of more than $599 in the Rhode Island lottery. That process can take up to 15 days. And the money comes in the form of a check. Prizes of $599 or less can be claimed at any lottery retailer and typically are paid in cash.

Some of the fake storefronts are in the ward of City Council President Luis A. Aponte, who says he is generally aware that illegal gambling is happening in stores around the city. He says he doesn't know of any particular venues but he doesn't think it would be hard to find one.

He suggested that gambling based on the Loteria is a way for Dominican immigrants to feel at home, which is where many of them send money.

"There is that sense of two worlds," Aponte said, "being here and being there."

A lax regulatory environment makes it easy to run in-store gambling operations. When a steady stream of customers visits a residential location, the traffic draws attention and suspicious neighbors sometimes call police, Lapatin says — but stores are expected to have customers.

Ludovici says one undercover detective asked to buy a cellphone accessory in one of the mock retail stores and a clerk refused to sell it to him.

Ludovici and Lapatin say that more auditing activity would make it harder for the rackets to operate fake storefronts.

David Shapiro, a former FBI special agent and prosecutor with expertise in financial crimes, says that inspection and oversight are tools that communities can use to address "the risks of bad conduct from bad enterprises that don't do what they were set up to do."

mreynold@providencejournal.com (401) 277-7490 On Twitter: @mrkrynlds