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Written by admin | Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
After last week’s decision by a Pennsylvania Court to drop charges on a man for hosting an illegal poker game, today we have seen Colorado do the same thing. The case of Colorado vs Kevin Raley was heard after a local group of 30 people had their poker game raided. The game was advertised on the internet as well as at various local spots. The charge that was initially brought against Raley was one of “professional gambling.” There were four other people at the game that were charged that mostly included their role in organising and operating the game.
The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) was at hand to provide evidence for the defence to prove to the court that poker is indeed a game of skill. The argument that they and the defence lawyer provided to the court was that poker is a game of skill, so they cannot be charged for “gambling” under Colorado state law. Todd Taylor who is the defence lawyer for Raley provided statistics for further evidence of the high skill level involved in playing poker. Together both the PPA and Taylor argued that this makes them exempt by the Colorado law that specifically allows “bona fide contests of skill.”
The poker game in question was run twice a week at a semi-private poker club at West Greely. Because of this Colorado officials tried to argue that serving alcohol in places where social gambling occurs is against the law. This was disregarded by the jury. This attempt to try and lay charges on the defendants looked desperate to some and made them look as if they were clutching for straws.
After the trial was over Raley, who is also a member of the PPA was thankful to the Poker Players Alliance for coming to help him out in the situation. The decision made by the Colorado court is likely to pave way for pubs to run poker leagues. The statistical evidence that Taylor provided is now on public record to be used for future reference to allow this.
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