[DEEJAY]

If there's a buck to be made the goverment's (state and local) will fine a way to get their hands on it, poker being so popular right now i hear more and more stories about poker games being raided and people being fined for such a devious pass time, my god are we going back to the days of prohibition, i don't know, but i will say we will keep playing poker no matter what they try to do to stop people having fun, it's like they (police agency's) don't have anything better to do than stop ma and pa kettle from holding a poker tournament, get real and fight real crime for gods sake, stop being revenue agents for the political czars.

[Mok]

I haven't heard of any homes being raided. BUT, I have heard of a few places near me under raids. And nothing comes to mind when I think about a poker-raid.

A Moose Lodge near me was busted a few months back, they weren't playing poker, but playing some form of Queens or something (don't quote me on that) and their pot was over 13k.

There is also a bar a few miles from here that was busted for having "Cherry" machines, that were having payouts.

In most cases these "lodges" and such can apply for licensing, which is basically a "fee" that allows them to run a small card room for a night a month. I don't know the limitations on it, but the lodges around me are always doing that.

Which, just reminded me of a VFW hall raid last year, for a casino night, without a permit......

I don't think you have to worry about a home-game. As long as no-one gets hurt (not pride), I don't know how they could enforce it.

[R Deckard]

♫We will overcome. . .♫

Oh yeah, I dug this old thread up. A crummy $20 game busted-up in Los Angeles.
LA Game Busted! Story at 11:00

[KYBill]

The only games around here that have been busted are the ones where they are doing illegal things ie: ranking the pot or selling alcohol with out a license.

I hope they bust more of these illegal places because they give poker a bad name.

[PocketRocket]

It wasn't the fact that it was a game, but rather that the guy was running a raked game. Seems only reasonable that the guy be arrested. After all down in your neck of the woods, places like Commerece, Bike, Normandie, Hustler, et al, all spend tons of money on licenses and employ a lot of people from the community to do that kind of work and they they pay a ton of money in taxes too. I'm guessing this guy with the backroom raked game did none of those.

And along the same lines of disussion on this thread, it's not unusual for alcoholic beverage control boards to prohibit gaming in serve liquor. I guess you probably already know that is also the case here in California. (that includes bar dice with the bartender for drinks).

Originally Posted by R Deckard

Oh yeah, I dug this old thread up. A crummy $20 game busted-up in Los Angeles.
LA Game Busted! Story at 11:00

[VARoadstter]

Not aware of any games getting busted but my friends game was robbed a while back. Fortunately I was not in attendance that night. The crooks had bad timing, too. They arrived after just about everyone had cashed out and left.

The good news is a local crimeline picked up a tip on the guy and he is now back in jail (he had a prior arrest record and was on parole).

We have been suspicious of a few guys coming in to the game being narcs but so far Mr. Fuzzy has not paid a visit.

[R Deckard]

Originally Posted by PocketRocket

It wasn't the fact that it was a game, but rather that the guy was running a raked game. Seems only reasonable that the guy be arrested. After all down in your neck of the woods, places like Commerece, Bike, Normandie, Hustler, et al, all spend tons of money on licenses and employ a lot of people from the community to do that kind of work and they they pay a ton of money in taxes too. I'm guessing this guy with the backroom raked game did none of those.

And along the same lines of disussion on this thread, it's not unusual for alcoholic beverage control boards to prohibit gaming in serve liquor. I guess you probably already know that is also the case here in California. (that includes bar dice with the bartender for drinks).

Well, first of all, none of the so-called "LA" casinos are in the city Los Angeles (probably illegal). The casinos are in the nearby smaller cities such as Commerce, Bell Gardens, Gardena, and Hawaiian Gardens. So, technically, the LAPD shouldn't care about the financial issues--those casino taxes aren't going to LA city coffers. LA County, maybe. Actually, I recall reading somewhere else on this forum that Los Angeles has a city ordinance that prohibits home poker, raked or not. The debate was whether this ordinance is valid, since it contradicts California state law, which seems to explicitly permit non-raked home poker games.

[JM]

I think the local law would overrule the state law when it comes to banning things. For instance, in Boston they outlawed so-called 'assault weapons' while they were still legal to own in the rest of the state. There's a bunch of other such local laws that I've seen that would ban things locally that are legal statewide.

[PocketRocket]

Right you are about the city of LA, but I'm in Northern CA so everything down there is La-La land And yes, I'm familiar with the LA city ordinance and the fact that none of the cardrooms are in the city per se.

My point was the subject of that raid was related to a raked game. And yes, a municipality can invoke ordinance prohibiting gaming that isn't prohibited by the state, but I'd really prefer not to discuss legal issues on forums of any kind, that's better off left to professionals in the legal profession within the confines of their places of business.

Originally Posted by R Deckard

Well, first of all, none of the so-called "LA" casinos are in the city Los Angeles (probably illegal). The casinos are in the nearby smaller cities such as Commerce, Bell Gardens, Gardena, and Hawaiian Gardens. So, technically, the LAPD shouldn't care about the financial issues--those casino taxes aren't going to LA city coffers. LA County, maybe. Actually, I recall reading somewhere else on this forum that Los Angeles has a city ordinance that prohibits home poker, raked or not. The debate was whether this ordinance is valid, since it contradicts California state law, which seems to explicitly permit non-raked home poker games.

[whitepotatoe]

I don't know anything about California law, but as long as the State Constitution does not state that non-raked home poker games must be permitted, I think that those local ordinances are enforceable even if they are contrary to state statutes.