In 1996, an undercover cop started dropping by a small Tulsa tavern. For three years, this guy sat on a barstool, drank beer, told jokes, bought drinks for his new buddies, and became an all-round friend and good guy to the owners of the tavern. Having owned two clubs, I know how easy it is to get close to regular customers. Regular customers mean everything. Small bars live and die by their regulars.
Problem is, over in the corner, the small tavern had illegal video poker games.
When you play these video games, you rack up points instead of having the coins come clank-clanking out. The club owners know that the local police, or the county sheriffs, will send in an undercover officer now and then to try to get the owner to pay off on these video games. As a result, the owners don't pay anyone they don't know. They only pay the regulars. After three years, he finally got paid off on a poker win and then busted his friends for finally trusting him.