Pensioners' game shutdown

Pensioners' game shutdown

It appears as though the American government will stop at nothing in its quest to stamp out "illegal poker games"; including shutting down an old peoples' home game.

Despite playing for pennies, the game inside Snohomish Senior Centre, Washington, was closed down by the Gambling Commission recently.

Moreover, officials later refused to make an exception even though the game is the only social outlet many of the players have.

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Our weekly game was busted as a practical joke that got out of hand. One of the cops took it seriously although the stakes were never over a dollar bet. We ended up having to use bookkeeping and settle up at the end of the game. Years ago.

as if these poor and elderly, only played with pennies, only to entertain.
the will ask, will he come? some day be legal play?
also because I see it I doubt it.

Harsh

This is/was a city issue. The City of Snohomish banned social card games within the city limits in 2009. The Mayor said "prohibiting the seniors’ games was an unintended consequence of the council’s effort to prohibit commercial gambling."

In the state of Washington, local jurisdictions have the authority to limit and/or exclude gambling, as well as impose taxes upon it (the state has no gambling tax of its own). The State Gambling Commission can be enlisted to help enforce local ordinances.

Bake em away, toys.

for my poker is not a game of chance.
because if you win you get a good-looking strategy.

The question I was going to ask after reading OP was where this took place. I knew it was going to be some small municipality that I had never heard of. As curtinsea pointed out, this was a local city council's attempt to prohibit commercial gambling. Apparently, some guy wanted to open a saloon and riverboat that would have featured low stakes card games, and this ban was aimed at preventing it. In fact, before this ban, the senior center was actually licensed by the state gambling commission to run it's card and bingo games.

This is a case of a small local governmnent enforcing a local ordinance, not the evil American government coming to to take your rights away. This is a country where presidents held poker games in the White House. As far as I know, unless specifically prevented by some local statute, there is no law against playing poker as long as the game is not advertised, not held in a public place, and there is no admission fee or rake or anything of value recieved for hosting the game. Otherwise, they would have taken Jerry Buss to jail a long time ago.

IntenseHeat said:

The question I was going to ask after reading OP was where this took place. I knew it was going to be some small municipality that I had never heard of. As curtinsea pointed out, this was a local city council's attempt to prohibit commercial gambling. Apparently, some guy wanted to open a saloon and riverboat that would have featured low stakes card games, and this ban was aimed at preventing it. In fact, before this ban, the senior center was actually licensed by the state gambling commission to run it's card and bingo games.

This is a case of a small local governmnent enforcing a local ordinance, not the evil American government coming to to take your rights away. This is a country where presidents held poker games in the White House. As far as I know, unless specifically prevented by some local statute, there is no law against playing poker as long as the game is not advertised, not held in a public place, and there is no admission fee or rake or anything of value recieved for hosting the game. Otherwise, they would have taken Jerry Buss to jail a long time ago.

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The closure was in the Snohomish Senior Center of Washington.
According to my understanding this will also gain sufficient assurance to end all poker sites, but this is an acyl homes.

Americas really funny about online poker as well aren't you only allowed to play on certain sites? here in britain we should be encouraged to play it to stop the depression that living here causes hopefully one day we can all play together in donking happiness

guicor30 said:

It appears as though the American government will stop at nothing in its quest to stamp out "illegal poker games"; including shutting down an old peoples' home game.

Despite playing for pennies, the game inside Snohomish Senior Centre, Washington, was closed down by the Gambling Commission recently.

Moreover, officials later refused to make an exception even though the game is the only social outlet many of the players have.

Click to expand...

You shouldn't copy/paste someone's news article without linking or crediting the source.

guicor30 said:

The closure was in the Snohomish Senior Center of Washington.
According to my understanding this will also gain sufficient assurance to end all poker sites, but this is an acyl homes.

Click to expand...

Closure? What closure? The senior center did not get closed. The state gambling commission did not renew the license they had to hold the low stakes games that the seniors played there. The senior center is still open.

Read a real news article. Or better yet, do what I do, read several. Here are three good ones.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Snohomish-seniors-face-betting-ban-243608091.html
http://www.king5.com/news/local/Snohomish-may-allow-seniors-to-continue-card-games-243633651.html
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20140204/NEWS01/140209672

It shouldn't take long. They are all pretty brief. But they do quote city council members. They said that the measure was not intended to affect the senior's games, but to prevent commercial gambling. It was intended to stop a private business owner from opening a business that would host card games for profit. One quotes the mayor. One even names the private business owner and quotes him.

What none of these articles, or any T.V. news report that I've seen, mention is online gambling. I would be very interested in reading whatever it is that led you to the understanding that anything some small town with a population of 9,000 does "will also gain sufficient assurance to end all poker sites". Seriously, where did that come from? This is the language barrier kicking in, right?

But you did get one thing right. This did take place in Snohomish. Just out of curiosity, had anyone ever heard of Snohomish before this?

Does the forum require source references for posts? I never considered a website forum as a publication. Is it regulation or courtesy?

Like there isn't enough real crime to worry with. Well spent tax dollars. Big brother is big time paranoid.