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British Columbia Shuts Down Poker Tourney
Another Canadian province has begun to clamp down on community poker games.
The Royal Canadian Legion in Cranbrook last week was filled with disgruntled
members after it was announced that the branch would no longer be holding
its popular Texas Hold’Em tournaments due to a warning from the province
that if the tournament continued the branch could face a heavy fine.
The word came by way of the local liquor inspector, who told the group that
their games could raise the ire of the B.C. Gaming Commission among other
groups. The Wednesday night tournaments were very popular in the Kootenay
community and outlying regions, with some of the regular 80 participants
driving over an hour to participate in the games. When they arrived last
Wednesday, they were not happy.
Branch president Tom van Amerongen was quoted as saying “There were a lot of
angry people floating around the legion that night, I’ll tell you! It’s been
pretty brutal. It was such a great evening here, even for people who didn’t
play. We had people who would stay longer just to watch the game because it
was so much fun, with lots of laughing and joking.”
If it came to enforcement, he said the bar could face a $250 fine, as well
as a subsequent $7,500 to $10,00 fine and forced two weeks closure.
Van Amergongen summed up the situation succinctly, saying: “To me, the
government just wants to have total control over every penny that is spent
on gambling anywhere. I think they felt that it was just growing so much and
they weren’t getting their cut out of it, and it’s as simple as that.”
The
buy-ins for the tournaments were $10, with no opportunity to buy back once a
player had been eliminated. British Columbia has now joined Manitoba, which
has closed three poker tournaments in the last month, in the fight against
unregistered poker tournaments.
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