Cock Fighting Arena Raided for Illegal Gambling

Gambling Occurred at Louisiana Cock Fights

A mile-long caravan of police cruisers pulled into a cock fight in Northern Louisiana. The target was not the cock fighting itself, but the illegal gambling that was taking place at the event. Louisiana is the last State in the US where cock fighting is a legal enterprise, after the blood sport was outlawed in New Mexico on March 12.

A small army of law enforcement officers mustered in preparation for the late night raid on the cock fighting arena. The army consisted of 65 state troopers, 20 sheriff's deputies plus detectives. The line of marked and unmarked police cars stretched on for more than a mile as the authorities made their way to the cock fighting arena, a few miles to the South of Logansport, Louisiana, just before 11:00 PM on Saturday night.

The excessive show of force was necessary, stated law enforcement spokesmen, because the authorities did not know what they could potentially encounter as they raided the cock fighting arena. The cock fights can number in the hundreds on the weekend, and the crowd could have potentially become volatile when confronted by authorities. Although police met no resistance from the 100 or so patrons at the arena, authorities wanted to have an adequate force to handle the worst possible scenario.

The cock fight itself was not the target of the raid. Cock fighting is a legal sport in the State of Louisiana. In fact, Louisiana is the only state where the blood sport is still legal, following a law banning cock fights that was passed in New Mexico on March 12. Although popular in other parts of the world, cock fighting is considered cruel and inhumane by many in the United States. Although cock fighting is legal in Louisiana, gambling on the event is not, and it was the illegal gambling that was the target of Saturday night's raid.

"But gambling as a business is illegal, and that's the basis of what is happening here," DeSoto-Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett said.