An illegal casino operation in Ontario is shedding light on how VIP gamblers have been filling the void caused by the COVID-19 shutdown of legal venues.

On Wednesday, York Regional Police announced the arrests of 32 individuals suspected of operating a “high-end illegal casino” out of a 53-room, 20k-square-foot mansion in Markham, just north of Toronto. The arrests, which were part of a probe titled Project End Game, occurred on July 23 but are only now just making headlines.

The C$9m (US$6.8m) mansion was among the items seized during the raid, along with C$1m in cash, 4,000 bottles of premium liquor, 11 firearms – including a rifle with a fully loaded 30-shot clip kept close to the action, just in case – as well as numerous gaming tables and electronic gaming machines.

The mansion also offered its guests the opportunity to crash overnight, along with unspecified “spa treatments,” leading police to conclude that the underground operation may have had ties to human sex trafficking.