Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) brought their fight to repeal the UIGEA and legalize Internet poker to the World Series of Poker Monday.

D’Amato, chairman and chief lobbyist for the PPA, urged poker players before the start of play to write their Senators and Congressman and ask them to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

“Why should Americans not be able to play poker online when they can bet on the ponies online?” D’Amato asked the cheering crowd before he kicked off Day 1D play by yelling “Shuffle up and deal’em.”

Later that afternoon, the large field of competitors paused to hear Wexler talk about returning online poker to American players.

“A few months ago, the government made a big mistake,” Wexler said, referring to the passage of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. “They butted into the lives of Americans told them they couldn’t play poker.” “Poker is as much our pastime as baseball,” Wexler told the audience. “It’s a game of skill,” Wexler said as the crowd cheered. Then he urged the players to write their representatives and support his proposed legislation allows Americans to gamble on skill games, including poker.

The crowd roared its approval, and Wexler and D’Amato continued their tour of the WSOP floor.

D’Amato and Wexler also made time to sit down with Casino City today to discuss repealing the UIGEA and creating a skill game UIGEA exception for poker.

AD: I’m fighting for the disenfranchised poker player. They’ve lost the right to play on the Internet. They should have the right to play on the Internet the same way Americans have the rights to bet on the ponies on the Internet. They’ve disenfranchised us. They’ve disenfranchised the poor poker player. That’s why I’ve joined this crusade. They’ve made us second class citizens. They’ve made us thieves. That’s the implication (of the UIGEA). We’re a country of fairness.

What did you think of the WSOP floor?

It’s quite something. But imagine how much greater and more spectacular it would be if you had players playing on the Internet. What a competition that would be. That’s the kind of thing that this can eventually be. But the legislation that was surreptitiously attached to the Safe Ports Act, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act prevents that. It’s one of the most hypocritical pieces of legislation ever passed and it was done in a duplicitous way. It says you’re engaged in a criminal act if you’re playing poker, but it’s ok to bet on horses, or lotteries, which is every bit the gambling – if not more than poker.

(At this point, PPA president Michael Bolcerek interjects and reminds D’Amato that the UIGEA just makes financial transactions illegal, not poker playing.)

AD: Let’s not be lawyers about this. It deprives you of the opportunity to play poker. It makes you deal with criminals. Anyone engaging in the wire transfers is guilty of criminal conduct. Essentially, they’re banning you from playing poker. They’re saying you cant’ do in you home what you can do by walking down the street to a casino.

VN: What about underage gambling?
AD: If you want to stop youngsters from gambling, why don’t you ban horse racing? At least under the legislation proposed by (Barney) Frank, who’s been heroic, and Wexler, they (online casinos) will have to use all kinds of sophisticated programs to prevent underage people from playing on the Internet. The technology works.And we will show Congress it works. All on this sanctimonious business about how we don’t want our kids to gamble on the Internet. I thought that fell on the mamma on poppa. I didn’t know big-brother government should step in. I’m going to be 70, why should I be precluded from gambling online.

VN: What type of pressure does the WTO ruling against the U.S. bring?

AD: Now we’re looking down the barrel of powerful cannon that’s going to blow our trade to smithereens as a result of the EU, Australia, and others bringing the same action (as Antigua) against the U.S. It will result in billions of dollars in penalties. And some of the biggest companies will be hurt when their IP is infringed upon. (Antigua and Barbuda is threatening to lift copyright protections.) Whether it’s the entertainment industry — Time Warner, Disney – or Microsoft, and a number of other leading technologies, the damage will be real.

VN: The EU says they want access to new markets rather than money for compensation in the WTO case. Doesn’t that lessen the pressure the U.S. might feel?

AD: It’s going to be billions of dollars we lose if that happens. Carried to its logical conclusion, it will be a colossal trade war. I can see a scenario that some that will want the sugar quotas lifted. And others will want another market opened. It will turn into a huge battle. And we’re wrong. We shouldn’t be involved in this battle.

VN: Many industry experts have called for study on online gaming. They claim it’s the only way to get data that Congress can use to pass a future law regulating online gaming. Yet you’re pushing directly for a repeal or skill game exception. Why?

AT: What you’re hearing is from certain segments of industry. And those segments are anxious to protect their businesses. You’re not going to stop the Internet and its utilization for all kinds of economic and commercial activities. The same companies (that want a study) will be pushing for repeal soon. Some are already. Others will move in that direction. And you can study this until the cows come home. But it’s not going to change.

VN: How are you going to get the votes needed to pass any legislation?

AD: We’re going to pick up the votes — I’m just not sure we’re going to pick up the votes before the WTO violation of law on our part. The WTO ruling plus a million members (editor’s note: they currently have almost 600,000 members) gives us critical mass. But members have to call congress and write into them. And not just a form letter. The have to tell them what they think and feel. And the educational process we’re engaged in before the mark up for the Frank bill to show (Congress) that programs keep youngsters on the Internet away from poker will help.

VN: I know you love to play poker Senator. How come you’re not playing in the Main Event?

AD: I didn’t enter the World Series because if I did, I would obviously make the final table, and that would take a week. Unfortunately, I have some things to do back in New York, so I couldn’t enter.

Congressman Wexler’s turn

VN: Why go for a skill gaming exception rather than an outright appeal of UIGEA?

RW: Barney (Frank) wants to undo the whole law. I went after poker and games of skill because that’s the best argument that Americans understand. ‘Why can’t you play in your kitchen and not online?’ Poker is a game of skill where there’s no house. You play against other people who want to play you. I would also favor an outright appeal as well.

VN: You’re obviously passionate about the issue. Why? RW: People are passionate about games of skill, like poker, and Congress has no business dictating the venues in which they’re played.

RW:People have been playing (poker) on the kitchen table, in the house, and in the halls of Congress for centuries. The idea to ban it on the Internet is illogical. Add on (legal) betting on horse racing and lotteries online, and there’s no legitimate case for not letting people bet on poker online. We’ll prevent underage gambling with the technology. And money laundering too.

VN: What kind of impact has the WTO ruling against the U.S. had?

RW:Other nations are bringing the U.S task. And an amended schedule has enormous financial implications as well. But we shouldn’t be violating the WTO. We can’t expect China, India and Europe to respect the WTO if we don’t.

VN: Have you heard from the Microsoft’s and Disney’s of the world asking about Antigua and Barbuda’s threat to suspend copyright protections?

RW: We haven’t yet, but we will. And rightfully so. The prohibition of online poker and games of skill are just registering with people. They’re just learning what the ramifications will be. And that will affect all sorts of elements of our economy.

VN: Any final thoughts?

RW: Prohibition didn’t work when we tried to outlaw alcohol. And it’s not going to work if we try to outlaw poker. It’s going to result in poker players using offshore sites that expose them to financial fraud. It’s counterproductive.

VN: Do you play poker?

RW: I play casually.

VN: What did you think of the WSOP floor?

RW: I wish more people could see the WSOP. It shows there’s an extraordinary enthusiasm for the game of skill.

Washington – No one’s ready to say you can bet on it, but Congress may change its mind and make gambling over the internet legal again.

Online poker was dealt a losing hand last year when Congress effectively banned most types of internet gambling.

Poker lovers like Michael Bolcerek complained that was unfair.

“We think it’s certainly more closely aligned with a sport than gambling,” said Michael Bolcerek of the Poker Players Alliance.

Did Congress make a mistake? Indianapolis Democrat Julia Carson says yes.

“I’m going to vote to repeal it, because it doesn’t make any sense to me,” Carson said.

It still makes a lot of sense to those who argue the internet has made gambling too easy and put financial ruin only one mouse-click away.

A Baptist minister told lawmakers about the addiction to online poker that led his son to rob a bank.

“This time next year instead of watching my son receive his diploma from Lehigh University as president of his class, I’ll be waiting proudly outside the gates of prison to see my son released,” said gambling opponent Rev. Gregory Hogan.

While the current law prohibits online casinos, it still allows betting on horse races.

That discrepancy is what appeared to sway Carson. “What’s the difference between internet gambling and being able to gamble on the horses?” Carson asked.  “I don’t think there is a difference, that’s why I’m confused.”

A year ago, the gambling ban passed easily when Republicans attached it to a homeland security bill.

Now that democrats are in charge, those who fought the ban then, are vowing to undo it.

The stakes in this battle are huge for entertainment companies who stand to make billions from online betting if it’s legalized.

Football buffs host holiday-grade parties for the year’s Big Game. World Cup soccer zealots gather and sing anthems in nation-flagged bars. Tour de France fans camp along French highways to wait for the peloton.

So how does a poker aficionado kick off the year’s biggest event, the World Series of Poker? If he’s Renton-based attorney Lee Rousso, he does what comes natural: He goes all in with a lawsuit.

On Friday, as the poker championship began in Las Vegas, Rousso sued the state of Washington in an effort to overturn its 2006 ban on Internet poker. Calling it a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause, Rousso said the first legal challenge to the state law also should be the last.

“I think my chances are darn good,” he said.

The ban, which took effect last spring, specifically prohibited the type of Internet-based card games such as Texas Hold ‘Em that poker players in Washington — Rousso among them — have used to qualify for the annual multimillion-dollar tournament. Rousso said that Washington residents who qualified for the event likely did so through Internet-based tournaments even though it now is a felony to do so.

Susan Arland, spokeswoman for the Washington Gambling Commission, said commission lawyers have not seen the lawsuit and would comment only after they had read it. “We don’t have anything to say just yet,” she said.

Rousso said the state law is flawed. In his complaint in King County Superior Court, he argued that the state measure was passed not to put the state in compliance with the federal wire act — something it does not do anyway, he said — but instead to protect the in-state gambling industry, including card rooms and casinos.

This, he said, puts Washington in clear conflict with the Constitution’s commerce clause, which forbids individual states from passing protectionist laws against other states’ business.

Approved as Senate Bill 6613, Washington’s law also banned Internet-based sport gambling. Lawmakers said it was an effort to put the state in compliance with the Interstate Wire Act. Originally approved in 1961, the act was a federal effort to limit betting on sports over the telephone.

No one has yet been prosecuted under the Washington law.

Internet card rooms boomed in 2003 when an unknown accountant and amateur card player named Chris Moneymaker won the world champion’s bracelet after honing his craft solely on Internet Hold ‘Em.

Moneymaker is Rousso’s inspiration.

“He created the modern poker boom. He’s a guy who everyone says, ‘If he can do it why can’t I?’ “

This year’s tournament is the largest in its 37-year history, with 12,000 players vying for the final table and eventually, the final seat and a first-prize worth more than $12 million. Prospective players can either qualify through satellite tournaments or by paying $10,000 up front to sit in.

Rousso, 49, qualified online for the 2005 World Series by winning an Internet tournament. He lasted 14 hours.

The Mercer Island native likes his chances better in court. If he loses there, he says, he’ll push for legislation to return Internet poker to legal status. It never violated the Wire Act, he said, because the federal law refers only to sports gambling, not poker.

“Our backup plan is to get this done politically.”

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, July 6, 2007, marks the opening day of the Main Event at the World Series of Poker, the world’s richest and most prestigious competitive event.Many of the competitors in the WSOP will be from Washington and most of the Washington entrants will have qualified on the internet, thereby committing a felony under this state’s internet poker ban (or, more broadly, as discussed in the Complaint, internet gambling ban) in order to win a chance at poker immortality. Read the rest of this entry »

A congressional push last year stopped many Americans from playing the games online, but the law may be changed

A bill before Congress that would legalize Internet gambling in the United States has American companies poised on the sidelines, waiting to capitalize on a potentially humongous new market.

The bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, was introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in April. Congressional hearings on the feasibility of the bill were held in early June.

The bill seeks to reverse the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which Congress passed last year and which bans Internet gambling in the United States by prohibiting American banks and credit card companies from processing payments to and from online gambling sites.

The stakes in this political showdown are huge. Frank’s bill would set up a framework for the government to legalize, license, regulate and tax Internet gambling. The bill would also set up safeguards to prevent underage and compulsive gambling, as well as money laundering and fraud.

After trying for almost 10 years to pass anti-Internet-gambling legislation, the Republican-controlled Congress passed its law in October by tacking it onto a bill concerning port security, arguing that terrorists launder money via online gambling sites. Few members of Congress wanted to vote against beefing up port security right before an election and the legislation passed easily.

Now, with Democrats in control of Congress, Frank wants to repeal that law and legalize online gambling. Frank calls last year’s bill “one of the stupidest things I ever saw.”

“I want to get it undone,” Frank said. “If an adult in this country, with his or her own money, wants to engage in an activity that harms no one, how dare we prohibit it? Adults are entitled to do with their own money what they want.”

Under the bill that prohibits Internet gambling, banks and credit card companies have become Internet pseudo-cops, forced to determine which e-transactions involve online gambling and then blocking them. Frank is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the activities of banks and credit card companies, who have made it clear they don’t want to be the Net’s gambling police.

Those banks and credit card companies have made numerous campaign contributions to Frank over the course of his 14 terms in Congress. If Internet gambling is legalized, not only will banks and credit card companies no longer have to block online gambling transactions, they’ll be able to process them and profit from them.

Under the proposal, American companies for the first time could legally set up Internet casinos, run them from the United States and accept U.S. customers. Corporations that currently run land-based casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere will likely be among the first to jump into the new industry, casino officials said, but they won’t be the only ones.

“We would do so as quickly as we could,” said MGM Mirage Senior Vice President Alan Feldman. “We would have it up and running within a year. And I have to believe that just about everyone will get involved at some level. All the major players.”

The major players in gambling?

“Yes,” he said. “But not just them. All the major entertainment companies will get involved, too. Sony, Apple, Universal, Columbia, Time Warner. It just seems logical that at some point they would find their way into the industry.”

Even a company as family-oriented as Disney could get involved in opening an Internet casino, Feldman said. “I know Disney has certain beliefs about its core brand structure that could prevent it,” he said. “But they could always create a sub-brand, as they do with their movie company Touchstone Pictures (which produces R-rated movies).”

MGM Mirage owns and operates about a dozen major Las Vegas casinos, including MGM Grand, Mirage, Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Treasure Island. MGM Mirage previously operated an Internet casino from the Isle of Man in the British Isles, from 2001 to 2003, that was open to people in every country but the United States. The casino failed, Feldman said, because of that ban.

“About 70 percent of the global online wagering market is from the U.S.,” he said. “So we were competing, with only 30 percent of the market. It wasn’t enough to be profitable.” But with the U.S. market, under Frank’s proposal, it would be profitable, he predicted.

If the bill passes, MGM Mirage will operate its Internet casino from Nevada, Feldman said. “That’s the point (of the bill),” he said. “For the home state to get the tax benefits.”

The Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns the Venetian casino in Las Vegas, as well as other entities, announced plans last year to open an Internet casino in 2007 that would operate from the Channel Islands and service the United Kingdom only. It hasn’t opened yet.

But now, with the potential new law, the company’s attentions are turning toward the more lucrative U.S. market.

An Internet casino run from the United States that Americans could patronize is definitely something the company would be interested in, should it become legal, according to Sands spokesman Ron Reese. “We see it as another opportunity to grow our business,” he said.

Representatives from other major casino corporations made similar statements about Internet gambling, but didn’t want to be quoted or identified, for fear of losing a competitive edge.

Not everyone is as excited about the prospects of legal Internet gambling.

Already, longtime Internet gambling opponent Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who was a co-sponsor of the 2006 bill that banned gambling, has spoken out against Frank’s bill.

“Online poker is currently the most addictive form of gambling activity among American youth,” Kyl said. “Online poker players are more likely to exhibit problem gambling symptoms than other types of gamblers, and over half of young people who gamble on the Internet displays signs of problem gambling.

“There is an attempt by Congressman Barney Frank to remove the online gambling enforcement mechanisms provided by (the current law). I oppose efforts to remove tools that our state and federal authorities have long sought.”

So-called “gaming” Web sites in the U.S., which are already legal, aren’t considered “gambling” sites because they only offer casino games that can be played for free, and thus pose no financial risk to players. Such sites appear to be in key position to enter the legal Internet gambling business in the United States, should it open up, because they’ve already got the Internet infrastructure in place and it wouldn’t take much effort to transform, for example, a play-for-free online poker site into a play-for-pay online poker site.

One such Web site is Triple Jack (www.triplejack.com), which operates from Coral Springs, Fla., and offers free online poker, with cash and other prizes awarded to winners. The site, in operation since 2005, makes money by carrying ads, and claims to have more than 100,000 registered players. Adding real-money poker would likely exponentially increase profits.

“The U.S. government is losing out on a lot of (tax) money by not allowing Internet gambling,” said David Finkelstein, chief executive officer of Triple Jack. “European countries realize this and allow it.”

If the legislation passes, it won’t just be the federal tax coffers and the potential Internet casino operators that stand to benefit. Advertising agencies whose clients include online gambling firms, as well as media that carry online gambling advertising, also stand to profit.

Robert Blagman is the co-owner of Media Options Inc., a Los Angeles ad agency whose clients include some of the big hitters in the real-money online poker business: foreign-owned companies Party Poker (www.partypoker.com), Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com), River Belle Poker (www.riverbellepoker.com) and 888 Poker (www.888.com).

Before the anti-online-gambling legislation passed, all four companies advertised heavily in the United States, especially on television, and Blagman’s company made heady commissions.

The new law “was a disaster for us,” Blagman said. “All our online poker clients immediately stopped advertising in the U.S.,” costing his agency more than $1 million in commissions.

Last month’s hearings before Frank’s House Financial Services Committee focused on the feasibility of effectively using new technologies to regulate Internet gambling and prevent abuse by underage and problem gamblers. After the hearings ended, Frank gave no timetable as to when he expects the full House of Representatives, as well as the Senate, to vote on the bill.
Net gambling history

1995 — First Internet casino opens. Blackjack, roulette, craps and other casino games can be played for fun, but not real money.

1996 — First Internet casino that can be played for real money, InterCasino, opens. Thousands more such virtual casinos will open in coming years.

1997 — Three San Francisco residents and former Pacific Exchange employees, Jay Cohen, Steve Schillinger and Haden Ware, move to Antigua and start Web site called World Sports Exchange, an Internet sports book that accepts online wagers on sporting events. It’s among the first.

1998 — Country and western singer Kenny Rogers, who had the hit song “The Gambler,” becomes first celebrity to open his own Internet casino. It’s based in Curacao. Fellow celebs including Rodney Dangerfield, Larry Holmes and Bubba Smith soon follow suit.

1998 — The U.S. Justice Department issues felony arrest warrants for Cohen, Schillinger, Ware and 18 other Americans for their roles in the illegal operation of a half dozen different Internet casinos and sports books around the world. Feds say the accused violated the Federal Wire Act, which prohibits wagering over phone lines, which the Internet uses.

1998 — Cohen and 13 others who were charged turn themselves in to federal authorities in the U.S. All but Cohen have charges dismissed or have plea bargains and receive fines. Cohen declines a plea bargain offering no jail time, choosing to go to trial. He hires attorney Ben Brafman, who previously defended Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano. Schillinger, Ware and five others who were charged remain fugitives.

2000 — After a jury trial in federal court in New York, Cohen is convicted of seven felony counts of Internet bookmaking and related offenses, and sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. He appeals the verdict.

2000 — Rogers becomes first celebrity to close his Internet casino. He cites the unclear legal status of the operation.

2001 — The U.S. Court of Appeals upholds Cohen’s conviction.

2002 — Cohen begins serving his sentence at a federal prison in, ironically, Las Vegas. He becomes the only person in U.S. history to go to jail for Internet gambling.

2003 — Chris Moneymaker, a Memphis accountant, wins the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas after qualifying by winning an online poker tournament. The Internet poker boom begins.

2004 — Cohen is released from prison after serving 17 months.

2006 — Congress passes the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which bans U.S. banks and credit card companies from transferring monies to and from Internet gambling sites, making it difficult for Americans to fund online gambling.

2007 — The Poker Players Alliance, a San Francisco lobby group, hires former Sen. Al D’Amato, a noted poker player, to help get the law changed so it doesn’t affect online poker. The alliance says poker is a game of skill, not luck, and therefore isn’t gambling.

2007 — Rep. Barney Frank introduces bill called Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, which would legalize Internet gambling in the U.S. The bill is yet to be voted on.

San Francisco Chronicle (07/02/07)

New state gambling laws doom poker clubs, Cherry Masters

A crackdown on illegal gambling will force some clubs and bars to change or find new ways to attract customers.

Cherry Masters, electronic slot machines, will be the target of Indiana’s new gaming police, and Texas Hold’em clubs like Royal Crown in downtown Muncie will close after midnight with a new crackdown on illegal gambling.

“The state has declared us a game of chance,” said Linda Koger, who owns Muncie Liquors and is a partner in the downtown poker club. “We are being forced to close our doors.”

The option, Koger said, would be possibly facing a class C felony charge for promoting professional gambling.

During its last session, the Legislature approved House Bill 1510, which included new penalties for possessing electronic gaming devices like Cherry Masters and promoting illegal gaming like drawings, pull tabs and sports pools.

That law also redefined gambling as risking money or other property for gain, contingent in whole or in part, upon chance, and only permits charitable gaming. And it gave the gaming commission authority to enforce that law.

“We always contended that the law made them illegal,” Ernest Yelton, executive director of the Indiana Gaming Commission, said about Texas Hold-em clubs.

The clubs generally have membership and seating fees. Royal Crown had a big celebrity opening last year with longtime Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon.

The gaming commission got 16 new officers strictly to go after illegal gambling. Yelton said video gaming like Cherry Masters would be the priority for enforcement, although other forms of illegal gambling would be addressed with cooperation of the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission, which enforces the law for holders of alcohol, tobacco and retail permits.

“The governor and the Legislature sent a strong message that in Indiana you have two types of gambling, legal and illegal,” said Yelton. “The one that is legal will be strictly regulated, and the one that is illegal will not be allowed.”
Regular players

A handful of poker players were standing outside Royal Crown Wednesday night, talking about the club closing as dealers planned some big dealouts on the final night.

“This is a club and it should be left as a club,” said Joe Ramos, a former dealer and player.

Ramos said Texas Hold’em offered entertainment for many people, with as many as 100 people a night playing at the downtown club.

“I guess I could go to a bar, get drunk and then get pulled over,” he said.

Ryan Clements, who runs the club, said the closing would be like losing family given the number of regular players.

“We have never had any problems,” Clements said.

The closing puts 15 people out of work and shutters a downtown storefront. Koger said she was still looking at how the club might be turned over to a charity.

Rep. Dennis Tyler, D-Muncie, voted for HB 1510, and said he did not know the bill would put Texas Hold’em clubs out of business. Tyler also has been criticized by some bar and restaurant owners for approving slot machines at horse tracks, including nearby Hoosier Park, while outlawing other gaming in other establishments.

“We did that to have property tax relief,” Tyler said, referring to how money from slots would fund property tax rebate checks to homeowners.

Tyler had a bill to legalize drawings, polls and pull tabs in bars, but that legislation never got in the final bill. He will renew those efforts during the short session.
No ‘Wanted’ poster

Brad Klopfenstein, executive director of Indiana Licensed Beverage Association, said some bar and restaurant owners would face a serious adjustment to the new enforcement effort by the gaming commission and other efforts by excise police enforcing alcohol and tobacco regulations.

“We are entering a whole new world here,” said Klopfenstein, who said the new gaming police were not unlike Elliott Ness and the “Untouchables,” special U.S. Treasury agents who enforced federal prohibition laws during the 1930s.

Yelton responded, “I can assure you we have no ‘Wanted’ poster here,”

The gaming commission is still working on a policy to enforce gaming laws, and Yelton said there were no plans to target eastern Indiana, even though the region was the headquarters for former Teamsters boss John Neal’s video gambling empire.

Neal was arrested last year on video gambling and money laundering charges, just two years after getting out of prison after serving time on charges of operating illegal gambling business, conspiracy to defraud the IRS and money laundering. Neal remains in the Ashland, Ky. federal prison on a probation violation from his previous conviction.

Yelton estimated there could be as many as 5,000 to 40,000 Cherry Masters or other video gaming machines throughout the state, still found in truck stops, tobacco stores, bars and other retail establishments.
Closing or changing

Klopfenstein said two Fort Wayne bars already closed over the pending enforcement and he expected the gaming police would make video gaming a priority.

Tammie’s Lounge was among the last local bars to have video gambling machines last fall when excise police issued citations there last November. Owner Tammie Rigney got rid of the machines and paid the citation.

“I am done with them,” Rigney said.

A few weeks ago, Rigney had a party where she paid out all drawings, NASCAR cards and sports pools, and ended that form of gaming. Doc Peterson’s trio, including Phil Dunn and Garland Simmons, played music as customers lamented the loss of popular gaming pastimes.

“I paid out 100 percent of everything,” said Rigney, who recalled how as many as 150 people would come on Saturdays to participate in drawings. “We are constantly looking at new ideas to bring people in the doors.”

One of those ideas is a party today (Saturday) at Irving’s Water Bowl with six live bands and a $5 charge.

As for the crackdown on gaming, Rigney said, “This is going to hurt a lot of people. It will be interesting what people in our business will do.”

The Star Press (06/30/07)

CHEYENNE – Poker players around the state can shuffle up and deal in restaurants and bars starting July 1, but in Cheyenne they may be forced to fold before even seeing their cards.

That’s because the city code prohibits poker and other forms of gambling.

Friendly poker games at bars and restaurants were common until December 2004, when Attorney General Pat Crank issued an opinion saying that businesses that profited from a poker game – even indirectly, such as when a poker tournament generated additional business – were breaking the law.

The Legislature this year removed the prohibition against indirect profits from the law, freeing the way for poker games starting July 1.
But that doesn’t change the Cheyenne statute.

“What the heck do we do?” asked Gary Waggoner, owner of Mingles, a Cheyenne bar. He worried that the law – or even the uncertainty – would drive some customers to bars outside the city limits. “Let’s get things cleared up or straightened up one way or another.”

So far, no one has asked either the Cheyenne City Council or City Attorney Mike Basom for clarification of the apparent conflict.

But state Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, said during the debate over the bill that he hoped legalizing poker games would boost business at bars around the state. And Basom this week said he thought the Legislature’s intent was to make such card games legal everywhere.

“My advice to the police department is, if you’re going to charge someone, do so under the state statute,” Basom said.

The Senate shelved legislation Monday that would have legalized Texas Hold’em poker tournaments in restaurants and bars across the state.

The Senate voted 22-14 to involuntarily postpone action on the House-passed measure, which should end its consideration during the legislative session.

House Bill 484 by Rep. Warren Triche, D-Raceland, ran into immediate opposition on the Senate floor as being an expansion of gambling.

“I nominate this bill as being the worst bill of the session,” said Sen. Ken Hollis, R-Metairie. “If you want to have gambling all over Louisiana, vote for this bill. You will have minicasinos everywhere.”

Hollis also said the Texas Hold’em tournaments would hurt charitable organizations that hold such events as part of fundraising activities.

Sen. Charles D. Jones, D-Monroe, said the bars and restaurants hosting the Texas Hold’em tournaments could not take a cut of the proceeds. Participants would have to be at least 21.

Jones never got a chance to rebut Hollis’ criticism before Hollis moved to return the bill to the calendar.

HB484 barely squeaked out of the House and it took two tries. The first time there was a 48-47 vote — five shy of the 53 majority needed.  The House later passed it on a 53-47 vote.

Triche pushed the bill at the request of some bar owners who have had poker games raided as illegal gambling by law enforcement.

Texas Hold’em is a poker game that uses seven cards, two that an individual player uses alone and the other five all the players can use to make the highest hand. Televised tournaments have popularized the betting game. Triche argued that the poker games are no different than darts, billiard games and football pools when wagering is involved.