Bill In Virginia Would Classify Poker As SkillTournaments Would Be Allowed Under New Legislation |
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Poker games shall be deemed games of skill.
That’s how a new bill in Virginia reads to largely exempt the card game from anti-gambling laws. The bill, S 1400, allows for the regulation of poker tournaments in the state.
“The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is vested with control of all poker tournaments in the Commonwealth,” reads the bill from Sen. Louise Lucas. “The Charitable Gaming Board shall have the power to prescribe regulations and conditions under which such tournaments are conducted.”
The legislation adds poker to the list of games that qualified charitable organizations are permitted to conduct, which already included raffles and bingo.
The bill, which was filed on Jan. 11, sits with the Committee on General Laws and Technology for a potential vote. The legislation would ultimately need to be signed by the governor. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018.
Nearly a year ago, Virginia grabbed headlines when it became the first in the nation to pass a law for the regulation of daily fantasy sports contests, also considered a skill-based game.
Sen. Lucas has tried previously to bring casinos to Virginia, but those efforts have been successful. There are now casinos in 40 U.S. states, and neighboring Maryland has a booming casino market.
Virginia’s position on poker would change for the better should Lucas’ bill pass.
A 2006 police raid of a home poker game in Virginia resulted in a police officer killing a player, in what was called an accident. Two million dollars was awarded to the victim’s family.
In 2009, a college student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg was charged for playing in a $2-$5 no-limit hold’em game after police with semi-automatic weapons raided it.
In early 2013, the Virginia Supreme Court balked at ruling whether poker is skill or not. A poker game organizer had been threatened with prosecution for his charitable poker activity, and the Virginia Supreme Court said that it couldn’t intervene because there was never a criminal charge in that case. Later in 2013, police raided a home game with a $100 minimum buy-in.
In 2015, a group of poker players took a plea deal in a case involving a SWAT team raid of their home game that had a $20,000 buy-in.
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