Metro

Feds seize $17 million Chinatown building that housed illegal gambling den

The feds have hit a multimillion-dollar jackpot off a notorious Chinatown gambling den they busted last year.

The government today announced that it had cut to deal to seize through forfeiture the six-story building at 35-37 East Broadway that housed the illicit operation.

The building was appraised at $17 million. And under a sale agreement, the Department of Homeland Security will pocket 65 percent of the sale, while its former owner, Won & Har Realty Corporation, will get the rest.

Authorities had shut down the joint after a May 2012 raid that led to 11 people being arrested for operating illegal pai gow poker games, computerized slot machines and other betting activity inside.

A Manhattan federal judge then ruled that the building — which was also the scene of a gambling bust in 2011 — was subject to forfeiture because its owners were “willfully blind” to the illegal action happening there.

The owners allowed the illegal activity to continue even though the building used to sport a large sign by the front door announcing there was gambling inside, the feds noted.