Two men were arrested Saturday night in connection with an illegal gambling operation.

A third suspect is still being sought.

Dawson County sheriffs deputies arrested Avinash Kondaveeti, 20, of Dawsonville, and Ravikumar Kondaveeti, 46, also of Dawsonville. A warrant has been issued for Syed Shaffiuddin, 51, of Lawrenceville in connection with the case.

At about 9 Saturday night, investigators seized 12 slot machines and several thousand dollars in cash from a Shell station at the intersection of Georgia 400 and Hwy. 53, and from the Silver City Citgo station on Hwy. 9 South, Public Information Officer Tony Wooten said. The stores were shut down Saturday night, but have since reopened.

The two men are accused of giving out cash payouts for the coin slot machines, which is illegal. Youre supposed to give store credit and they were paying out in cash, Wooten said.

The investigation, led by Sgt. Jennifer Wright, had been going on for about two months when the sheriffs office received information about the alleged operation.

Ravikumar Kondaveeti faces four felony charges of commercial gambling, and Avinash Kondaveeti faces six charges of felony commercial gambling. Both men were arrested Saturday night and bonded out of jail early Sunday morning.