Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Playing the Odds on Poker's Legality

By just a parent

Those of you who enjoy anteing up for a barroom game of poker might want to check out recent court actions involving gamblers. That line between the friendly game of cards and the kind that can get you arrested seems to be getting thinner. DeeDee Correll at the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday on a spate of recent poker player arrests in homes, bars and other small-time venues around the country. A case possibly headed for the Colorado Supreme Court involves a $20 buy-in for a Texas Hold?Em game at a bar in Greeley. The defendants in these cases claimed that poker takes more brains than luck to win, a distinction that would exempt them from gambling laws in 37 states. The argument worked for the players at the Greeley bar, and for and a man in Pennsylvania running a poker game of out of his garage. The host of a Texas Hold?Em tournament in a Pennsylvania fire house wasn?t so lucky. In all likelihood, few prosecutors are interested in going after small-time poker games in which no one takes an extra cut to play. And even when there is a little cash for the host, perhaps you?re thinking that...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).