could this method WORK?

[thursday]

To preface, a few months back, a local club that holds a weekly NL tourney got busted by my state's gaming commission. The game was split for a few weeks, but quickly came back with the same tournament and prize structure. I asked how this was possible, short of countless sexual favors, and those in charge of the place proclaimed that my "buy-in" was for food.

Instead of paying $60 as entry to the tournament, I instead paid $60 for a buffet of gross food, with a free bonus entry into a tournament with cash prizes. Oddly enough, this method was deemed as legal and the game has been running strong since.

Could a similar strategy be used with online poker? In order to offer their customers a method to deposit, interested sites open a Store which offers "Bonus Money" in your account with the purchase of an item. For a ridiculous example, they could offer a pack of Pokerstars cards for $104 or a Bodog Basketball for $206, with bonus offers of $100 and $200, respectively.

I'm not familiar enough with the legislation in place, but surely someone here can shoot down my idea. This seems like a reasonably sound idea, as well as a method for the major poker sites to make even more money through selling ridiculous items.

<3

[wade17]

i didn't read anything you wrote but, no it cant

[RoundGuy]

I once told a cop that I had given this girl $60 for a nice meal -- and she was so grateful she jumped by bones for free.

Didn't work too well....

[KittyLiquor]

Many, many moons ago (think early 1970's) I worked in a restaurant in Oklahoma City (think middle of the Bible Belt.) It was illegal to buy "liquor by the drink." You had to go to the liquor store and buy it by the bottle. The restaurant I worked in had a liquor club. You could join for $2, get a membership card. You could then "buy" a scotch & soda for $2. $.50 went to the liquor club to buy more liquor. $1.50 went to the restaurant for the soda and service. It was quasi-legal at best, but we served the chief of police all the time. Nobody complained so nobody cared.

Fast forward 10 years to Plano, TX. (10 miles North of Dallas.) I bartended at Bennigan's. Same exact system, but you did get a free drink with you membership. I had clients that bought a new membership each week. They didn't want to carry their membership card around. Funny, but it was a FREAKIN' paperwork nightmare for us. I had about 15-20 membership cards in my glove box for various restaurants around town.

It is obvious you/the restaurant are trying to skirt the law. If someone complains and the police/district attorney want to cause problems, it'll be shut down in an instant. Otherwise it's a wink-wink, nod-nod situation.

Good Luck.

[ElDuque]

Not sure, but I totally enjoy the thought experiment.

[Cornell Fiji]

This is not legal in New Jersey and I believe that this hypothetical is covered either in the statute or by precident.

Technically you are not allowed to have a home game where everyone chips in $5 for pizza and chips because in doing so you are raking the game.

The law on this varies from state to state.

[jbrent33]

In Alabama there is an ongoing legal battle surrounding the use of slot machines at the dog track that is kind of similar.

The owner installed a ton of slot machines but calls them sweepstakes machines. He then installed a huge bank of computer terminals, that he calls a cyber cafe. When you purchase internet surfing time you get a "sweepstakes card" with a certain number of entries on it. You then take the card down stairs and get a pull on the slot for each of your enrty.

It has been back and forth in the courts several times, the local sheriff announces he is closing the place and taking the machines, then the dog track owner gets an injunction from a judge because sweepstakes are legal in Alabama.

According to my friend who plays the dogs, he has never seen a single person using surfing the internet in the cyber cafe.

[ QUOTE ]
Dogtrack sweepstakes
Latest venture doesn't violate state's anti-gambling law, judge decides

BIRMINGHAM (AP) — A gambling magnate's latest "sweepstakes" venture doesn't violate state gambling law, a judge ruled Tuesday in clearing the way for a new moneymaker at the Birmingham Race Course.

Dog track owner Milton McGregor found a loophole in Alabama's lottery law with his new sweepstakes video machines, and law officers can't stop him from operating the devices, Circuit Judge Scott Vowell decided.

Vowell said the machines — which resemble video gambling terminals commonly seen in casinos — are "a sham" designed to make customers believe they are gambling when, in reality, the outcome is decided as soon as they purchase credits that let them use the devices.

"The operation looks and sounds like a gambling casino, but under Alabama law it is not," Vowell ruled.

Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale had deputies confiscate about 300 of the sweepstakes machines during a raid in December. During a hearing last month, his attorneys argued the machines were illegal gambling devices disguised to resemble a legal sweepstakes.

But Vowell disagreed and ordered Hale not to raid the gaming center again and to return all money seized in the December raid.

The machines had been returned earlier under a court agreement that they not be used until the judge ruled.

During the hearing, lawyers for McGregor and a video machine manufacturer told Vowell that hundreds of terminals resembling slot machines are a legal promotion to entice people to buy computer time at the track's new Internet cafe, increase wagering on dog races and sell more food and drinks.

Customers get 100 free sweepstakes entries for each $1 they spend on computer time, and then they use the video machines to read electronic cards that reveal whether they are winners, the attorneys argued.

[/ QUOTE ]

It pays to have good lawyers, here is a picture of the non-slot machines