Florida Bill Would Allow Charity Poker Tournaments

A bill introduced Monday in Florida’s legislature would allow certain organizations to run low-stakes poker tournaments.

Thanks in part to the state still considering poker to be a game of chance and not skill, charity poker games still fall within the scope of the state’s illegal gambling laws. If enacted, the bill would loosen the restrictions.

The legislation, HB 799, was first reported on by Floridapolitics.com. Republican Rep. Elizabeth Porter is pushing the proposal that would allow charitable, nonprofit and veterans’ organization to host tournaments with a buy-in of $200 or less.

Under the bill, at least 40 percent of the prize pool must be paid to players, but it can’t exceed 80 percent. So the charitable, nonprofit or veterans’ group must retain at least 20 percent.

The legislation also requires that a person involved in conducting a poker tournament “be a resident of the community in which the charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organization is located” as well as “a bona fide member of such organization” and “may not be compensated in any way.”

The six-page bill lays out other rules for the games, including a provision that prohibits an organization from refusing a poker player “on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap or marital status.”

The Sunshine State already has one of the top poker markets in America. There are about 30 poker rooms spread across the state with more than 800 tables between them. For comparison, Nevada has about 660 tables statewide spread between about 70 poker rooms.

Only Florida pari-mutuel facilities and Indian casinos can operate cardrooms.

As for poker home games in Florida, the law there says that only “penny-ante” games, in which no pot exceeds $10, are allowed. These micro-stake games “must be conducted in residential premises, owned or rented by a participant in the penny-ante game.”

While the state debates the merits of charity poker tournaments, lawmakers are also in the midst of trying to negotiate a new gaming multi-billion dollar compact with the Seminoles and also find a consensus on how to bolster the state’s gambling market.

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