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Poker.co.uk - Poker News Archive
Friday 20th March 2009 South Carolina Looks To Legalise Home Poker
In America, a state legislator in South Carolina is proposing to change a law from 1802 law that, when read literally, makes it illegal to take part in any diversion played with cards or dice including board games such as Monopoly
Late last month, five home poker players were found guilty under the 207-year-old law although Mount Pleasant Municipal Judge Larry Duffy ruled at the same time that poker was a game of skill and not one of luck or chance, something that elated proponents of legalising online gambling in the southern state.
Now, State Senator Glenn McConnell has introduced a bill that would see poker games played in homes or for charity legalised as long as ‘no house player, house bank or house odds exist and where there is no house income from the operation of the game’.
“The (current) law is antiquated,” the Republican told the Post And Courier newspaper last week.
“It was written in another time and government has no business micromanaging people's lives and the choice they make on the games that entertain them.”
McConnell is also the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly in Columbia, and has gained a good deal of bi-partisan support.
“We’re tired of the fact that in your own private home you can’t play poker,” Democrat State Senator Robert Ford told Charleston television station WCIV.
“We think you should be able to do anything in your castle, which is your home.”
McConnell’s bill would also allow charities to hold casino nights to fundraise but would still outlaw electronic video gaming machines and betting on live sporting events.
Source: OnlineCasinoNews
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