Originally posted March 09, 2008 - Transferred June 6, 2008
Wishing a very good day to all my fellow poker players and PPA members.
Ever since the UIGEA passed I have been visiting Poker Forums to add my specialized knowledge of the law to help folks understand the legal status of poker and, accordingly, what they can do to help better that legal status. Ultimately I spoke with TheEngineer and PPA director John Pappas about creating a litigation support network, and that idea is now coming to life.
One aspect of the Litigation Support Network (lets call it the LSN) was to create this forum. The basic idea here is to have a central place where people can ask specific legal questions relating to poker, and get reliable (I hope) answers. I also envision a running discourse concerning that most basic of questions: is poker a game of mostly chance (thus legally gambling in most states) or a game of mostly skill (and thus not legally gambling in most states). As some of you may know, my initial claim to fame was to post what (so far) is an unrefuted "proof" that poker results are mostly the result of player actions, not actual cards dealt. I will repost that "proof" in a slightly updated form in this forum, but I will leave the original one in the main forum too - the more exposure and discussion this receives, the better the proof will be when it finally makes its appearance in a court of law.
As a little background information on me, let me say that I am 48 years old and have practiced law in the State of New Hampshire for the last 22 years. My practice is almost exclusively in criminal defense, and this keeps me in Court quite a bit, and thus keeps me quite practiced in arguing. I am married to a wonderful women but have no children. I have been a lover of skill games my entire life. I played a fair amount of poker as a young man, but after moving to New Hampshire found little opportunity to play, and eventually forgot about the game until, like many of you, the Moneymaker/WPT/online boom occurred a few years ago. Being a frequent vacationer to casinos, primarily in Las Vegas, I slapped myself in the head for forgetting that poker was the only game where you do not play against the house at bad odds and where your results could be significantly improved by your skill at the game. I started playing online as a way to improve that skill and became a lover of the game all over again.
Then came the UIGEA and my regular Poker sites decided to no longer let me play. This made me mad. Eventually I found other poker sites, but more importantly, I found the Poker Player's Alliance and joined immediately. I have been a member since November, 2006 and am also the State Director for New Hampshire.
Around that same period of time, I picked up a few gambling related cases in my practice, including helping an online friend with the legal ramifications of starting a new poker funding company. As a result of this I had to make myself aware of all the varied laws and court cases related to poker. Although there are a lot of lawyers out there with more expertise in "gaming" law than me, their expertise is primarily in the area of dealing with regulatory agencies and gaming companies. I believe that when it comes to the laws as they impact the individual players, there are at present few more versed in these laws than me.
So have at it! Ask me just about anything relating to law regarding playing playing poker, whether online, at a casino, in a charity event, or in your own kitchen. I am here to give what knowledge and advice I can. To get things started I am going to post a summary of the laws, first Federal Law, and (coming soon) individual state law.
One thing though, I am not a tax expert. anything but the most basic tax questions need to go somewhere else.
Let me end this first post by thanking the PPA for this opportunity to be of what service I can to the Poker playing community and by hoping that whatever we accomplish here it serves to enhance the game of poker and the legal right of all of us to play it.
Patrick "Skallagrim" Fleming.