I'd like to hear EXPERIENCES with other California players that might have consulted either an attorney or the local police department about how to collect money for hosting a poker game.
It's not that big a deal, but every week the wife and I host a low-limit ($20 buy in)NLHE poker game on Saturday nights, and usually have 7-9 guests. We often keep soda, snacks, hookahs, and even adult beverages available for those that ask nicely. We provide them mostly because if we don't, the first few hours of play are people running back and forth to the store, which for some reason they don't seem to remember to do before they come over.
I think what inspired this thread was a friend that brought a guest the other week, and he did really well, taking home about $100 in winnings. He also ate half the cookies, a couple of (small) bags of chips, about 6 beers and sodas. He stuffed the cash in his pocket, wiped the crumbs off of his face, tossed the beer bottle in the trash and hit the road with a big smile on his face. Why not? He won money and ate/drank another $10 in free food/drink. What a deal!
We do pretty decent in the games, usually making a few dollars ($30-40) between the two of us by the end of the night, but most of that goes to buying the stuff for the next weeks game. And when we lose, we still spend that money on stuff regardless.
Some of these are pretty good friends, (that we hang with outside the table) and I know they would donate money to keep the snacks and drinks flowing, but I want to make sure that the way we collect is 100% legal, without asking them for cash while in the driveway like some kind of drug dealer stuffing my pockets with cash in the shadows. We have too much to lose by skirting the gray areas, since we own the home, I own 3 businesses, and she is a school teacher that would be canned in a moment if we were even suspected of doing something illegal at home.
We are not getting "broke" by spending this money, but it seems like the more we provide the more is expected, and often some players come over empty handed and head right to the fridge and the pantry knowing there is stuff there. I don't want to be rude by calling someone out with a "What are you doing?" however it would be nice to say, "Help yourself, you paid for it."
We'd like to spend
our poker winnings on fun stuff like everyone else does, instead of paying for the goodies that everyone enjoys and no one pays for. It's not like it's rent money we are spending, but it adds up every week when we spend it directly to make our guests more comfortable.
The part that kills me is that whenever I host a "party" I have no problem passing the hat around to get funds for beer, food, whatever. But since we play poker as the theme for our "parties" we seem to be stuck not only providing the house, but the costs for everything else, every week. Heck when I was in college we would MAKE you pay like $5 before you even walked in the door.
I've thought about putting an unmarked jar by the front door, and just letting people know what it is for before they even enter the house, but the lines seem pretty fuzzy to what is allowed and what could be construed as taking a rake, or trying to profit by having the players contribute to the expenses.
Any experiences (opinions not preferred, I have plenty of them, lol) with this topic are appreciated, as it would be nice to not have to dip into our pockets every week because of the way the law is stated about the house collecting funds.
