Rockford police raided an illegal sports betting business at Rock River Valley on Wednesday. Eight men were arrested during the raid. The business has been receiving bets worth thousands of dollars on football and basketball events since the early 1980s.

Federal and local authorities investigated the case for almost five years. According to the police, the sports betting operation made profits of more than 500,000 dollars. The main prosecutor of this case, Attorney John Scully, claimed that it was not intended to make the arrests during the Super Bowl XL week, which is usually the sportsbooks busiest night of the year.

Nine men were each charged with one count of running an illegal gambling operation. One of the nine men is held in jail for illegal transport of firearms. The eight men appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney in federal court on Wednesday. The youngest one is 28 years old, and the oldest one is 69.