Legislators have folded on a bill that would legalize kitchen table poker.

A measure legalizing recreational poker games in homes was sent back to a House panel on Wednesday without debate.
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Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, wants to eliminate the $5 bet limit at Colorado casinos to bring in millions of extra revenue for the state.

His proposed constitutional amendment (Senate Concurrent Resolution released Monday doesn’t specify what the new limit would be or what the extra money would be used for.
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Not all gambling is gambling under the law.

Some gambling is considered “social gaming” — legal gambling, if it adheres to certain regulations.

First, the game must take place in a private residence; second, it cannot include house odds, a house player or house bank; and lastly, the house cannot make money on the game.

This is why it is perfectly okay for friends to gather at somebody’s home for poker night or high stakes Yahtzee.

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A bill that would authorize the study of intrastate online poker in
California moved forward yesterday when the Assembly Governmental
Organization Committee (AGOC) unanimously sent the bill forward to the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2026 calls for the California Gambling Control Commission and the
Department of Justice to perform a study on authorizing intrastate
online poker in California. If passed, the study is to be presented to
California Legislature by June 30, 2009.

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When Maine State Police raided the 24-Hour Club on Lincoln Street on Sunday afternoon, they found three tables covered with poker chips and about 30 people playing poker.

What they didn’t find was a tournament games license to hold the card game, Lt. David Bowler, commanding officer for the state police special investigation unit, said Tuesday.

“It was clear they were playing a Texas Hold ‘em tournament or some poker tournament,” he said.

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Some of them say it’s silly that Monopoly, Go Fish and arcade games are against the law.

And some might even believe it’s a waste of police time to bust penny-ante kitchen-table poker games.

But don’t expect state lawmakers to do anything about it anytime soon. That’s one debate that’s just too controversial to take up in the General Assembly right now.

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The first wave of card players charged in a recent high-stakes poker roundup pleaded guilty Monday, but another legal battle might be brewing over as much as $90,000 worth of cash and belongings seized during the investigation.

Martin Orlando Reyes, whose Hanahan home was raided by sheriff’s deputies April 4, was one of 19 people to plead guilty in Charleston County magistrate court to one misdemeanor count of unlawful gaming. In exchange, authorities agreed to dismiss additional counts against them. Magistrate David Coker ordered most to pay fines of between $154 and $257. Some 46 others still await a court date in the case.

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Eleven people were arrested in a high-stakes gambling bust in northwest Harris County.

Sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on west road near yearling this afternoon, following a two month undercover investigation.

Authorities say they found a room full of card tables and about 80 customers playing Texas Hold ‘em. And they weren’t playing ordinary poker matches. Thousands of dollars were at stake in the sophisticated operation.

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Police broke up a high-stakes poker ring in Long View on Thursday, seizing cash, poker chips, cards and poker tables.

Officials from six agencies, including the Alcohol Law Enforcement, were involved in the raid at 2247 U.S. 70 in Long View, according to the Long View Police Department. Following up on tips from the community, police began investigating the gambling activity at the home a year ago. Until recently police did not think they had enough evidence for a search warrant.

Nineteen people were at the residence when law enforcement went to the house last week, according to police. They were playing a high-stakes game of Texas hold ‘em. Long View police said $55,000 in cash was seized in the raid.

No one has been charged. Police are still looking into what charges may apply. The home is a rental property, police say. Police are investigating whether the rental agency knew about the gambling. The person renting the home was there at the time of the raid, police say. Police say they are trying to determine who was running the gambling operation.

In addition to gambling, alcohol was also being sold illegally at the home, police said. Police officials said possible charges they’re looking at include gambling, possession of game tables and allowing gaming in a house of public entertainment.

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