BY TOM SOMACH

A World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion was one of 74 people charged with illegal gambling Sunday, after an illegal casino in North Carolina was raided.

Maciek “Mike” Gracz, 26, of Raleigh, N.C., who won a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament at the 2005 WSOP and earned $594,460 and a championship gold bracelet, was among those charged with misdemeanor illegal gambling by law enforcement authorities, after they raided the casino in Benson, N.C., early Sunday morning, according to the News and Observer, a Raleigh newspaper.

It was the second time Gracz has been so charged–the first time was in 2004, in another county in the state, the newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper, agents of the North Carolina Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement, along with sheriff’s deputies and state troopers, descended upon the illegal casino and found a full-scale gambling operation, including craps and blackjack tables and a roulette wheel, as well as about a dozen poker games in progress.

Authorities confiscated about $70,000 in cash from the casino and charged 60 customers who were gambling and 11 people who were working at the casino, the newspaper reported.

In addition, three others were charged with running the casino, the News and Observer reported.

Gracz first gained notoriety as a poker player when, as a college student at North Carolina State, he won the Trump Classic, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament at the Trump Taj Mahal hotel and casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in 2004, earning $296,275.

The next year, he earned $1,525,500 by winning a cruise ship tournament sponsored by the online poker room, Party Poker.

He has gone on to earn a total of almost $3 million in poker tournament winnings, including the WSOP win in 2005, another money finish at the ‘05 WSOP, a money finish at the 2006 WSOP and three money finishes at the 2007 WSOP, including $84,858 for finishing sixth in a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney.

Law enforcement authorities raided the casino after getting complaints from neighbors of the casino, the News and Observer reported.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)