Betfair Official Blog

Poker Laws And The USA

TO New Mexico, where the New Mexico Gaming Control Board is investigating whether a poker tournament hosted earlier this week in Akela by the Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma was "improper".

For improper, read illegal.

Such is the attitude to poker in the US that the Land of the Free can big up the World Series of Poker, turn it into a TV spectacular to be sponsored by big brands and celebs, and simultaneously ban citizens from playing it.

The law is not an ass; the law is a push-me pull-you.

The Apaches say the state has no jurisdiction over its 30-acre patch of federal trust land, where the tournament took place.

The tribe hosted a Texas hold 'em poker tournament with 16 players. To the winner a $10,000 seat at the WSOP event.

Denis Floge, manager for the tribe's Apache Homelands Casino, tells the local paper: "One of our managers got a call from the state Gaming Control Board and wanted to set up and interview with him." The manager "basically told him they didn't have any jurisdiction here."

Tribal Chairman Jeff Houser tells the Gaming Control Board: "I told them (the agent) would be trespassing if he came onto our site."

The Gaming Control Board did not respond by press time to questions about the investigation.
And now the media become involved. Two agents with the Gaming Control Board visit the Sun-News organ. They "request" the names of players in the tournament. They wants faces.

And: "The Sun-News declined to provide information beyond what has been published."
Good.

The law might be the law, however wrongheaded, but if the citizens do not have the right to challenge it, then it is bankrupt...

• Poker
• Poker Anorak