PA: Pittsburgh Area Poker Legality Lawsuit

[chrisptp]

Thanks for bringing that story to my attention; it's on my site and it looks like the author pieced it together from some other reports that skipped over a lot of the facts of the situation.

I'm correcting it now.

[MayorHerb]

"The preliminary hearing for the charges at Adamsburg is presently
scheduled to be held at District Justice Mansour's office on November 9,
2007.

***All players and other interested parties are welcome to attend the hearing.***"

http://www.riverloc.com/

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
The rake issue only matters in some states (Texas for example). Not having access at the moment to my research, I cant say for certain about Penn.

In almost all states, however, if poker is a game of skill, then taking a rake or not is irrelevant. Some states allow home "games of chance" so long as the "home" does not profit - in those its relevant (if poker is a game of chance). Other states outlaw games of chance alltogether, rake or no rake.


[/ QUOTE ]

Here's one partial source for Penna law summary:

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Pennsylvania/

My understanding is that the "don't take a rake" provision is part of Pennsylvania law, but I didn't locate it in that web page.

[MayorHerb]

[ QUOTE ]
Here's one partial source for Penna law summary:

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Pennsylvania/

My understanding is that the "don't take a rake" provision is part of Pennsylvania law, but I didn't locate it in that web page.

[/ QUOTE ]
I believe the relevant statute is §5513, not §903, §5512 or §5514.

Specifically to §5513, what needs to be addressed is that poker is a skill game despite a rake being taken. A point that Pennsylvania does not yet concede to.

Current status quo in Pennsylvania (but not universal, check with your local law enforcement) is that casual home games are considered legal (Source: York Co. DA, Lackawanna Co. DA, Pennsylvania V. Silverman). This is generally understood to mean "unraked" and/or "small stakes" and/or "unadvertised". Player beware.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_sports#Poker

[Lottery Larry]

Thanks, I never would have looked for that under PA Sports

.. since poker isn't a sport.

[MayorHerb]

No argument, but I didn't add it originally to Wiki. just expanded on what I found there.

No need to get into game vs. sport vs. "Covered by ESPN".

I don't think it belongs there but I'm not much for creating new articles and moving content. And I don't know all the Wiki tags. I think I'll move it up as a question in the Poker project...

I couldn't find "Poker Law" or such. There's wiki articles on "legal gambling age" and even "age of consent" (sheesh).. but nothing on home poker or just poker law by state.

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
I couldn't find "Poker Law" or such. There's wiki articles on "legal gambling age" and even "age of consent" (sheesh).. but nothing on home poker or just poker law by state.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try:http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Law-Summary/

I can not attest to the legal depth of the site, but I haven't found a major mistake there yet. But I am not a lawyer, let alone a gambling lawyer.


D$D

[MayorHerb]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I couldn't find "Poker Law" or such. There's wiki articles on "legal gambling age" and even "age of consent" (sheesh).. but nothing on home poker or just poker law by state.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try:http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Law-Summary/

I can not attest to the legal depth of the site, but I haven't found a major mistake there yet. But I am not a lawyer, let alone a gambling lawyer.


D$D

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks.. I've seen that article. I've been trying to figure out where to put such type of content within Wikipedia. There was a stub I found on Pennsylvania Sports that had a quote from a story about a DA saying it was OK for home games and I decided to adopt it and expand it with other quotes I found. But Pennsylvania Sports doesn't seem the appropriate place for Pennsylvania Poker Laws