S.C. Court to Hear Arguments that Poker is a Game of SkillAttorneys Will Present Proof That Texas Hold'em is a Skill-Game |
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Municipal Court Judge J. Lawrence Duffy, Jr. has agreed to allow both the prosecution and defense to present any kind of evidence they can so that the judge could decide whether Texas hold’em should be considered a game of chance as defined by the state’s definition of gambling.
The bench trial will take place sometime in January.
Never before in America has a judge ruled on whether the game of Texas hold’em should be considered a game of skill or chance. If Duffy rules it’s a game of chance, then the prosecution will win this round.
If he decides that it’s a game of skill — and he will be presented reams of evidence it is a game of skill — the goal of the five men, to have the South Carolina law they’re accused of violating redefined, will be well on its way.
It would force South Carolina to look at its antiquated gaming laws and possibly rewrite them in a way that would protect the game of Texas hold’em. Texas hold’em is the only form of poker that lawyers are trying to define as a game of chance or skill.
Duffy is allowing the defense the chance to prove that Texas hold’em poker is a game of skill because the prosecution is claiming the poker game they were playing in was illegal because poker is a game of luck, no different than craps.
Jeff Phillips, the attorney representing the five men who were rounded up with several dozen others as part of a poker raid conducted by Mount Pleasant, S.C., police in April 2006, argued in August that charges should be dismissed. The reasoning behind the proposed dismissal was that South Carolina’s 200-year-old gambling law, which simply outlaws games used with cards and dice, is too outdated for modern times. The judge refused to dismiss the case.
Months later, he convinced the judge to allow them to argue the case from the angle of a skill-versus-luck issue.
Bob Chimento, Scott Richards, Michael Williamson, Jeremy Brestel, and John Taylor Willis were rounded up in April 2006 in a poker raid that nabbed about 60 players. All of the other players settled with the courts by pleading guilty and paying fines of less than $300.
The men are not fighting the charges because of the fines. They hope that their efforts will indeed change the law in South Carolina to allow Texas hold’em to be legally played there.
The Mount Pleasant Five are also getting help from someone who has agreed to put up a substantial amount of money as part of a defense fund that will be used to build the case that poker is a game of skill. They wish to remain anonymous.
Chimento, who has repeatedly put his name in the press talking about the case, is clearly excited that their efforts are allowing them to settle the question of whether Texas hold’em poker is a game of skill or not in a court of law.
He believes if they are successful, this case has the chance to change the way state and federal authorities look at poker as a game of skill. He believes that it could be the impetus to change laws all over America in order to protect the version of poker known as Texas hold’em.
“We are astounded. What is really amazing about this whole thing is what started on a typical Wednesday night in Mount Pleasant,” Chimento said. “We have gone from that to a national level, and now to a point where we could help the poker laws as a whole.”
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