Men Indicted For Hosting Low Stakes Home Poker Game

Poker News - January 3rd, 2010 - Written By Bonnie

Do some government officials take the gambling laws one step further than they should, or should residents simply obey the state laws that restrict them from participating in illegal gambling operations? In October of 2006, some poker players from Mount Pleasant, SC were enjoying one of their regular low stakes home poker games, when a group of local police men raided the home and arrested everyone involved in the game. The men were charges with participating in illegal gambling activities under the South Carolina state laws, which prohibit any games with cards or dice. Wanting to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, most of the men decided to pay the fees, but a few of the men decided to fight the charges as far as the courts would allow them. It took much time and several court battles, but in the end the men were actually cleared of any wrong doings in October of 2009.

This was a bittersweet victory for the men, or so they thought. The South Carolina Attorney General has filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court, which could very well reverse the previous court decision, and in fact re-charge the men with illegal gambling activity. In their defense, the men claimed that poker is a matter of skill and not gambling. The Poker Players Alliance was quick to back the men up and display reason how poker is skill and not gambling, and as such, SC law does not have reason to charge the men with illegal gambling.

Through out the court sessions, key testimony was delivered by a number of reputable experts such as Poker Ambassador Mike Sexton, who had a hand in convincing Judge Dennis that poker is a game of skill, and not luck, and that poker's skill factor prevented the men from being charged under the SC gaming laws. The judge, though originally convinced, examined the vague gaming statutes and had ultimately decided that home based games of poker still contradicted the law.

Attorney General Henry McMaster will continue to fight this case until he gets the results he is looking for. Residents of South Carolina may want to stay out his destructive path by taking to other forms of gaming entertainment, such as Online Poker.