HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Honolulu Police Department says a new operation is not only shutting down illegal game rooms, it’s keeping them closed for good.

“Every time one of these game rooms comes into a neighborhood, it brings along with them guns and violence and drugs and other issues,” said Honolulu City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.

For years, HPD has been raiding illegal game rooms on Oahu, but dozens still persist, partly because of some landlords are willing to accept their huge rent payments.

“The rule of thumb generally was when you shut one down, one, maybe even two open up somewhere else,” said retired HPD deputy chief John McCarthy.

“There’s a game room on School Street up until a few years ago that was paying $14,000 a month to their landlord, simply to rent th

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