The National Poker Challenge poker room in Little Rock was shut down Sunday night. Little Rock police arrested the owner and four dealers and charged them with keeping a gambling house, a class D felony.

When the poker room opened in September, police and the City Attorney said the operation would be illegal under Arkansas law. National Poker Challenge maintains that the poker room does not break gambling laws, because players don’t have to buy into games, although they can pay to track their statistics.

“I’m not too worried about the semantic jousting over whether something is or is not gambling, is or is not of value, whether something is or is not winning or losing,” said Jegley.

National Poker Challenge said that it checked with various lawyers besides the city attorney, and they advised that the play would not constitute gambling.

Also Sunday, Little Rock police confiscated equipment at the poker room on Rodney Parham and Reservoir, effectively stopping operations there.

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Recovered from the Poker Players Alliance archive index. This is the archived item as preserved.