WFAA-TV

Jimmy Ray Everett was arrested in the Friday night raid.

HIGHLAND VILLAGE — A family card game in this Denton County community was busted Friday night when police raided what they called an illegal gambling operation.

Police handed out 11 citations and arrested a father and his son.

North Texas law enforcement has been cracking down on illegal gambling. News 8 exposed one such operation disguised as a legitimate business on the Dallas-Garland border earlier this summer.

That same month, Tarrant County law enforcement officers raided four more illegal operations.

In Friday's operation, Highland Village and Lewisville police raided a house in the 800 block of Highland Village Road and confiscated almost $8,000.

"It scared the living daylights out of us, and it made me feel like a criminal, when I know that none of us there are criminals," said Jimmy Ray Everett, 59, whose home was the target of the raid. His son, Carley Ray Everett, 35, was also arrested.

They are charged with keeping a gambling place, gambling promotion and communicating gambling information.

The elder Everett said he only ran friendly games for his buddies. "They said, 'our wives don't want us playing at our house; why don't we just play at your house and you just take money to cover the costs?'"

Everett said his expenses included nothing more than food "It was just our little group doing what we thought was okay."

Everett said he's not upset at police for doing their jobs, even though he had to spend an evening in jail. "They treated everybody, I think, fairly."

But he said he does not plan to host any more gambling games. "I love to play cards; we all do—but not at that expense," Everett said.

E-mail bgreene@wfaa.com