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Manitoba Cracks Down on Poker Tourneys
The Canadian province of Manitoba appears to have a jones on when it comes
to poker tournaments. Five rural bars in Lac du Bonnet, Beausejour, Pine
Falls and Pinawa were hosting the Eastman Poker Tournament in order to raise
money for the building of a new outdoor rink in Lac du Bonnet. A game
planned for Sunday in Beausejour was cancelled at the last minute due to
written warnings stated that the poker game was illegal. The tournament is
the second Texas Hold ‘Em tourney to be shut down in the last month, after a
tourney in Winnipeg (where players were competing for a $10,000 seat in the
World Series of Poker in Las Vegas) was shut down in January.
Andrea Kowal, of the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission, stated, “Our
compliance officers hand delivered the notices to a number of VLT
sites-hotels, lounges- letters of warning telling them that if they had
either held Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments or were planning to, they would be
putting their VLT siteholder agreements at risk.”
Tournament organizer Ritch Nally was disappointed with the turn of events,
saying he believed the poker game would be legal because the money raised
would be going to charity.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a grey area, but my lawyer felt that is was
a very safe bet if we put down the tournament. I certainly wouldn’t risk
getting charged,” e said. “Just imagine if we were willing to donate money
and play Monopoly. It’s because it’s poker that there is the illusion of
something sneaky going on.”
The Manitoba Gaming Control Commission has stated that any establishment
that charges an entry fee, offers a large prize, and stands to gain from
running a poker tournament is breaking the law. It says it is considering
the rules as they apply to charity events.
Nally has not yet decided if he will reimburse players the $20 they paid to
join the tournament, with a purse of $1,000 going to the winner. He hopes
that his tournament will be approved as a pilot project for charities and
that the players will be called back to the table to finish the tournament
in about a month and a half.
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