Considering starting a regular home game, need advice.

Marlowe · #1 08-22-2006, 10:08 AM

I live in a town that has one casino. The cash games offered are 200 and 500 buy-in no-limit, and 5/10 and 10/20 structured hold'em. On any given night there are at least two 5/10 tables but only ever one 10/20 table. On weekends the list for the 10/20 table gets ridiculously long.

A friend and I are considering starting up a regular 10/20 home game on weekends. It will probably run friday, saturday, and sunday night. We plan to rent an apartment, buy a good table, provide a paid dealer, and supply drinks and some food. We have at least 30 people who are keen already.

We are planning to take a rake of 5% capped at $5, as opposed to 5% capped at $10 (which the casino charges). After the rent, the dealer's pay, and other overheads such as food and drinks, we are going to split the rake 50/50.

Some questions then:

1)Is there any chance of this turning into a profitable venture?

2)How worried should I be about security?

3)How worried should I be about breaking the law?

Thanks in advance.

orentha · #2 08-22-2006, 10:41 AM

1) Sounds profitable to me.

2) YES

3) YES YES YES. that plan already sounds totally illegal. There are permits, regulations, and stuff like that to operate a casino/card room. Doing it straight out of an apartment like that is asking for a raid...

Marlowe · #3 08-22-2006, 10:45 AM

Yeah so I suspected as much. What would a raid mean? Jail?

PokerintheI · #4 08-22-2006, 01:47 PM

#3. You will get busted. Even assuming that none of the players report you, some neighbor will get upset because one of your players always parks in front of his house or takes his parking spot and will report "suspicious activity" to the police department.

At a minimum you will lose the equipment and any cash that is there and get a misdemeanor of some kind. At worst you might be looking at a felony depending on the local/state statutes. Running a venture of this nature can be considered racketeering and run you afoul all of those lovely laws in addition to the anti-gambling laws.

I suppose I should modify the possible "minimum" statement. If you got really really lucky you might just get a warning to shut down. But if you make a real enterprise out of it as you suggest, that is less likely.

kodonnell · #5 08-22-2006, 02:47 PM

Not just gambling laws but you could also get busted for tax evasion, which could be very serious.....just ask Al Capone.

Metamorphatory · #6 08-23-2006, 12:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
#3. You will get busted. Even assuming that none of the players report you, some neighbor will get upset because one of your players always parks in front of his house or takes his parking spot and will report "suspicious activity" to the police department.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree. Had a Friend have his "home game" busted after a local business had parking issues. They found out the game was on when people kept coming in and asking for small denom notes (was a cash game & they didn't use chips).

SFBAY23 · #7 08-24-2006, 05:04 PM

What state are you in... that can make a difference in terms of the severity of the legal issues. Profitable yes, security issues, yes. What do you plan to do if someone has a horrible night, has been drinking and attacks the cage? Also, since the nature of the business is illegal, you won't be able to get liability insurance. Lot's of issues. You may be better off starting more low key, so instead of an 'official/illegal' setup, try it out of your house to work out some bugs, then grow.

If you and your friend have money to invest, why not look into a gaming license in your area? Again, if the town is super small, the demographics likely won't justify a new license.

Just some thoughts.

F

AceDeuce1 · #8 08-25-2006, 12:06 AM

yeah bad idea on the rake

totally illegal.. i know a couple of games like this by me.. they were raided and charged.. not sure of details though

i know taking a rake is illegal... but is it illegal to play w/out a rake??

BigSlick75093 · #9 08-27-2006, 04:38 PM

As far as I know, if you take a rake, tip the dealers or tip a waitress, it is illegal. Why aren't they any restaurants with cash poker games? Because tipping any wait-staff is illegal. There are many bars/restaurants around the country associated with the APL (Amatuer Poker League), but there is no buy-in. You're not playing with your money. It's just for fun.

I live in Dallas and a bunch of underground clubs got raided back in June (By Dallas SWAT. Look for it on A&E later this year). The dealers were taken to jail, and everyone playing received tickets (Undercover cops infiltrated the game). If you do go through with this, make sure you know everyone involved and keep it low key. The clubs in Dallas that got busted advertised on the internet.

And if you're planning on renting an apartment for this, I can almost guarantee the neighbors will be calling the cops. 30 people in one apartment will be making a lot of noise. All of the underground clubs in dallas were working out of empty office space in out of the way strip shopping centers.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

chesspain · #10 08-27-2006, 05:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]
And if you're planning on renting an apartment for this, I can almost guarantee the neighbors will be calling the cops. 30 people in one apartment will be making a lot of noise. All of the underground clubs in dallas were working out of empty office space in out of the way strip shopping centers.

[/ QUOTE ]

The regularly scheduled underground game in which I play in a small town operates out of storefront on a main street in a seemingly mixed residential/commercial zone. There are really no neighbors to worry about--and I assume that the cops probably know about the game but don't care.