Hold 'Em Right There!

Jacob Sullum | February 22, 2005

The New York Times notes that states are cracking down on Texas hold 'em tournaments in bars, even when there are no entry fees and no real stakes. In a Minnesota raid last summer, "20 officers, guns bared, burst into the bar," seizing the chips and cards. In Illinois bars have received $500 fines for holding hold 'em tournaments. Last December 83 people were arrested on misdemeanor charges for participating in a tournament at a Texas bar.

Playing hold 'em in public for anything of value, even a T-shirt or a chance to compete in other tournaments that might ultimately lead to a seat in the World Series of Poker, is illegal gambling, say state liquor authorities. Some go even further, arguing that a completely free tournament with no prizes is still illegal, since it attracts business to the bar:

Brian DeJean, a lawyer for the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control...says any game operated as a business--people being paid to deal, for example, or bars increasing revenues from players buying drinks--is verboten.

"We're not seeing friendly games where five people show up and sit around the table, what we're seeing is games where somebody is making some money," Mr. DeJean said. "We would not be having the same conversation if every Tuesday was prostitution night in these bars."

The proper analogy is not "prostitution night" but "ladies' night," which lures women with free or cheap drinks, thereby luring men looking for sex, thereby adding to the bar's bottom line. Leaving aside the possibility of a sex discrimination suit, I assume such promotions are legal in Louisiana.

In Minnesota state legislators are coming to the rescue of tournament-sponsoring bars with a bill that would add Texas hold 'em to "the state's list of legal card games--cribbage, skat, sheephead, bridge, euchre, pinochle, gin, 500, smear and whist." I gather that five-card draw, seven-card stud, Chicago, Anaconda, Bonecrusher et al. would remain illegal (unless played in the privacy of one's home). No one, of course, has suggested that the state should stop micromanaging people's entertainment options.

Comments

|2.22.05 @ 10:03AM|#

...where somebody is making some money...

*gasp*

|2.22.05 @ 10:12AM|#

I recently won a shirt and a beer glass at a bar. I was playing the NTN trivia game. I had no idea I was such a criminal.

|2.22.05 @ 10:17AM|#

Twba - The bar owner is the criminal.
You are the victim.

|2.22.05 @ 10:30AM|#

Victimize me again, please. I enjoyed playing the game. It kept me in the bar long enough to purchase several drinks. Everyone seemed happy.

|2.22.05 @ 10:33AM|#

Twba,

You know, I've won prizes playing before as well. Shit. I'm a victim too!!! Let us commiserate the woes of our victimhood by going to the bar and playing trivia! :)

|2.22.05 @ 10:38AM|#

Actually, Twba is a criminal too, if he/she did not report the winnings on his/her tax return.

|2.22.05 @ 10:43AM|#

From what I understand, only two states in the union allow poker games where money changes hands. Nevada and Colorado. And *ONLY* if it's zero sum. You can't have a cover, you can't say "everybody throw in 5 bucks for pizza" if there will be money left over.

I could be wrong, however. But that is what I have heard.

|2.22.05 @ 10:44AM|#

The IRS can't have the shirt off my back. They'll have to pry the glass from my cold dead hand.

|2.22.05 @ 10:51AM|#

I think the crackdowns have less to do with enforcing morality than protecting the state's monopoly on gambling.

And in the case of Illinois, protecting the bottom line of the riverboat casinos.

|2.22.05 @ 10:52AM|#

For tax purposes, I treat small winnings as gifts. I am a criminal on the loose. Look out.

|2.22.05 @ 10:55AM|#

The state lottery is for the children. Proceeds go to the schools or so I was told. We can't have people gambling without contributing to the education of our children.

|2.22.05 @ 11:13AM|#

Oh, it's for the children? All right, I take back everything I said.

;-)

|2.22.05 @ 11:21AM|#

"We would not be having the same conversation if every Tuesday was prostitution night in these bars."

No, there wouldn't be a conversation because the prick would be over at a bar in a heartbeat getting a handjob, the hypocritical douchebag.

But I'm having problems with this analogy.. gambling without prize money compared to prostitution without sexual gratification? Can someone help me out here?

|2.22.05 @ 11:31AM|#

Mr. NG,

Actually, the comparison would be gambling without prize money (but still having fun), to prostitution without orgasm (but still experiencing pleasure).

Xrlq|2.22.05 @ 11:51AM|#

In Illinois bars have received $500 fines for holding hold 'em tournaments.

Meanwhile, in California, comment spammers who repeatedly attempt to hold Texas Hold 'Em tourneys in my comment area face no penalties at all. Go figure.

|2.22.05 @ 12:20PM|#

Never underestimate Minnesota. Even after 4 years of Governor Ventura, when it comes to recreation, what is not compulory (e.g. cross-country skiing, but _not_ Nordic biathon! [due to those embarrassing rifles...] ) is most certainly forbidden!

|2.22.05 @ 12:40PM|#

Crimethink:

Okay, I guess that sorta makes sense. Maybe this DeJean joker was talking about lap dances. For any guy who never had one, well, I pity the fool.

|2.22.05 @ 12:56PM|#

There are likely multiple rationales for the crackdowns. In the South I can definately tell you that issues of "morality" are at play. Hard-shell Baptists go ape shit over lotteries for example, so its not surprising that the religious in the South would go apeshit over this either.

|2.22.05 @ 1:54PM|#

Actually Jacob, ladies night is not a good analogy, unless potential gamblers have to buy a few drinks for the card dealers before they pay attention to you.

"Hey, I noticed from across the room that you have beautiful hands... maybe you and I could go over to that table and you could deal our game..."

Larry A|2.22.05 @ 3:32PM|#

Down here in Texas the gambling addiction of choice is "Eight-liners." (Like slot machines only different.)

Set up a couple of them in the back room of your business and the local barnyfifes will conduct an eighteen-month undercover investigation and then arrest you. Gambling is a sin that corrupts the innocent.

Selling state lottery tickets, on the other hand, is a civic service.

|2.23.05 @ 11:13AM|#

Why does it take 20 officers with guns bared to stop a card game with no money? Couldn't one guy drop off a cease and desist, write up a fine, etc.?

It's always overkill with the police.