Vancouver man gets 1 day in jail for running illegal gaming operation in $4M home

A Vancouver man has been sentenced to a day in jail in connection with an illegal gambling operation operated out of an expensive Shaughnessy home.

Russell Lim was also sentenced to 18 months probation after pleading guilty to one charge of keeping a gaming or betting house Friday.

A home connected to Lim was raided by police and members of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) on Feb. 1.

The home, which sits off Granville Street in the 1400-block of West 37 Avenue, is assessed at nearly $4 million.

A day after the raid, a man who identified himself as Lim told Global News about 40 heavily-armed police officers had entered the home and confiscated his card table and cell phone.

He said he was just playing cards with friends and that they were doing nothing wrong.

Two women, identified in court documents as Alice Szeto and Yan “Jenette” Huang, were also arrested and charged along with Lim.

The charges against the women were stayed Friday, despite submitting intentions to plead guilty.

Lim also told Global News in February another place of his near Clark and Hastings had been raided last year, an event he characterized as a misunderstanding.

Court records show on Feb. 2, 2018, the CFSEU and JIGIT raided an alleged illegal gambling operation known as “Se7enhaus” in a commercial property in the 1200-block of East Hastings.

Online ads for the room showed poker game buy-ins for up to $340.

A charge of keeping a gaming or betting house against Lim was announced in September in connection with that raid, earning him an additional 18 months probation.

That sentence was also announced Friday, after Lim plead guilty to the earlier charge.

—With files from Kristen Robinson and Simon Little

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