Texas Hold Em' or "Texas Hold up?
There is an on-going effort against local
lounge owners and even individuals playing host to “Texas Hold Em’ poker
tournaments and games. Law enforcement is cracking down on the sponsors of these
tournaments as illegal gambling operations. Lounge owners, whether realizing
direct revenue from the tournaments or whether through indirect means are being
targeted. Direct revenue or profits are obtained through a percentage of the
pots or through entry fees or however it may be set up. This is referred to as
the “House take”. Sponsors of these games stopped taking house cuts from the
pots to get in compliance of the law and decided to accept indirect profits from
drinks, snacks or food purchased by the participants while the tournament is
underway. They learned that this too was illegal and they could lose their
liquor licenses. Whether the law clearly and specifically defines indirect
profits made by the hosts of texas hold em tournaments seems to be irrelevant in
the crackdown. It appears the crack down is based on a simple interpretation of
the law.
The ATC themselves have said the issue will
have to be decided in court. If this is true, then they are burning up taxpayer
dollars in a crackdown that may or may not hold up in court. Essentially they
are…”gambling” with our tax dollars.
Some cases will have to decided in court, based on the ATC’s own
admission, then it appears to me they are enforcing their own interpretation of
the law.
Texas Hold em’ or any other card game is a game of skill and chance. We can sit here all day and discuss the social and economic impact of gambling on individuals. That is a different debate altogether. When I step back and look at the whole picture, this is what I see.
Gambling is playing games of chance and using your money in the hopes of winning the pot. Whether it’s more money or some prize, it’s all gambling. You can go to a casino and play the slots, craps or any number of card games, you can go other places and play video poker, you can play pokeno, bingo, billiards, golf, foo’s ball, darts and other games that you can ultimately “win” at. You can bet on the horses. Then there are the football pools, and people playing Dominoes’ for a few bucks. You can take a chance on a raffle ticket whether for a worthy cause or not. Even a cake walk is game of chance with the odds of winning a $10.00 cake with a small investment. Some of these are games of chance while others require some degree of skill combined with chance. Lets not pretend our favorite innocent game that offers us an opportunity to win regardless of the amount invested verses the amount you can win, is not gambling. It’s all gambling! We can even look at investments in the stock market and define it as “gambling”. Whether you call it investments or not it’s still a gamble and the same “money-changer” rule applies. Invest a dollar to make $10.00. If this doesn’t get your goat nothing will….I have heard preachers, ministers, televangelists and the like say “Whatever you tithe at church, will be returned to you 10 fold”. Call it what you want but we have people placing their long shot bets against the collection plate at church, with others encouraging it. Gambling is a part of life, but we each re-define it for ourselves so that we can distance ourselves from it and pretend we are not the gamblers.
Why then is there such an effort against the
game “Texas Hold Em’”? With all this betting going on, I’ll jump on the
gambling bandwagon and bet, that the Louisiana State Gaming Commission lobbyists
are behind it. You see if your attending a texas hold em tournament your not at
one of the many casino’s scattered around the state. If your playing poker at
a card table, then your not playing video poker. It’s an act of
self-preservation. You don’t actually think they care about the negative
social impact to the public do you?
The crackdown on texas hold em tournaments
screams corruption in of itself. People who are lining their pockets from the
casino’s and video poker want to crack down on the bars and lounges across the
state. They can’t skim it so they don’t want it to exist. They are afraid
that if it is left unchecked it could get out of hand, all the while pretending
that other forms of gambling is not “out of hand”. They are simply enforcing
a law, that doesn’t exist or shouldn’t exist to assist and protect the
interests of the gaming industry. If
it was a single individual with no money complaining they would turn a blind eye
to the complaint. With special interest groups, lobbyists and big money backing
they will twist and turn the law any way they can to justify their crackdown.
Sounds like a game of “this is a hold up”, more than a game of “hold-em”.
I don’t see anything wrong with people playing cards for money or prizes and if a lounge owner can supplement his income by the sales he makes during a tournament then ultimately the state will get it’s cut by indirect means. Sponsors of these tournaments could make much needed revenue on food, drinks, snacks and providing space. This could help offset the burdensome regulatory compliance costs that the state places on businesses. When it comes to the poverty that gambling generates, we should not overlook the poverty that our own government perpetuates with its impossible laws and poverty producing incentives.
There is not doubt that there are some who would like to sneer at me from a higher moral plain, but they should consider that if they have invested in the stock market, bought a lottery ticket, played bingo, attended a cake walk, bought a Raffle ticket, or put down a dollar in the hopes of gaining two, or, to win something of greater value, you’ve been out gambling too! When it comes to the subject of gambling, hypocrisy is king!
Joe