Virginia Poker Players Caught on Legal Roller Coaster
Virginia lawmakers have never liked gambling much. In fact, the laws of Virginia pertaining to gambling fall under the category of “crimes involving morals and decency.”
The overview of the law labels illegal gambling as anything involving the making, placing, or receiving of bets or wagers of money or anything of value made in exchange for a prize, stake, or other thing of value depending on the result of a game or contest. There is even a provision detailing the illegality of interstate gambling, which includes purchasing an interest in a lottery for profit.
To say these laws are broad is an understatement.
Needless to say, Virginia is not a contender for online casinos or online poker.
As for live poker, however, the Virginia Charitable Gaming Council found a loophole. Establish a poker room with a charitable component, and the Gaming Board could issue licenses.
This has worked in several cases…until it didn’t. Poker rooms opening and closing have become a regular phenomenon depending on where the license stands via court rulings and the legal process. Most recently, Beach Poker Room in Virginia Beach has been at the center of opening and closing. The last closures happened in October of this year.
One year later, however, Beach Poker Room changed locations and reopened just last week.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Virginia Gambling Laws
It is fair to say that Virginia’s gambling laws are a bit antiquated. While there are many examples, the most pertinent to poker is that it still falls into the category of games of chance. That makes live poker rooms illegal.
There have been numerous attempts to change the law, to specifically exempt poker from the broader category of gambling. Those efforts included a Senate bill in 2011 (and repeated in 2012) that failed to pass the committee, and another Senate bill in 2012. A bill in 2017 did make it to the Senate, where it barely passed, but it then failed in a subsequent committee. More recent attempts failed early in the bill approval process as well.
There is an exception to the gambling law. Under the state’s law, there is a charitable gaming section. That definition includes raffles, games of chance authorized by the law, and Texas Hold’em poker tournaments. This is broken down to a definition of an “organized competition of players” who do the following:
–pay a fixed fee to enter the competition, for which they receive poker chips to use in said competition
–may pay an additional fee for additional poker chips
–might be seated at one or more tables to play Texas Hold’em
–face elimination from the tournament when they run out of chips
–win prizes based on a pre-set number of players to win and how long they remain in the tournament
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) is in charge of charitable gaming. It has the Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs (OCRP) that issues licenses and gaming permits for charitable purposes. And the Charitable Gaming Board adopt rules and procedures, as well as to oversee license application and licenses.
Started with a Scandal
The current confusion about the poker tournament laws led to a bit of a kerfuffle with the Joint Subcommittee on Charitable Gaming. Chairman of that board, Chuck Lessin, had been a part of the movement to allow charity-based poker rooms for tournaments. And he subsequently opened Pop’s Poker Room in the city of Richmond. He then rented that space to people who wanted to run tournaments. Some members of the board wanted him removed due to a conflict of interest.
"The lack of permits hasn’t stopped Chuck Lessin, the chairman of the state’s Charitable Gaming Board, from opening a poker room, Pop’s Poker, at his Richmond bingo hall and sports bar. Lessin has also started a for-profit poker operations company other charities can hire" https://t.co/yK5GlKTQJI
— News from the States (@statesnewsroom) September 28, 2021
The VDACS stopped all licenses for charitable gaming permits, at which time Lessin sued the VDACS. And he won.
Even so, pressure from lawmakers and the VDACS forced Lessin to close Pop’s in July 2022. “We need to await new licensing requirements,” the website noted.
The following month, Pop’s management posted a message on its website.
“The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) which is the home of the Office of Charitable Gaming, has continually dragged their feet and obstructed the promulgation of the law enacting poker in Virginia. They delayed the submission of the regulations surrounding poker, thereby missing a deadline and effectively negating all of the regulations. As a result they have not issued any licenses.
“A bill passed in January of 2022 made it illegal to play poker without a license under penalty of a $25,000-$50,000 per occurrence. In essence they shut down the entire industry with one simple bill.
“A Virginia Beach charity sought an injunction against this new bill. On June 30, 2022, the injunction was denied and on July 1, 2022, the new law went into effect and all charitable poker in Virginia was shut down under threat of an unusually large and unfair penalty. We sought an appeal with the Virginia Supreme Court, but that was recently denied.”
The statement noted that multiple charity poker rooms have banded together to hire lobbying firms and pay for legal assistance. Pop’s vowed to “continue to fight the good fight.”
Beach Reopens
Speaking of Virginia Beach, the Beach Poker Room has been experiencing some of the same confusion.
After operating for two years, Beach announced its closure on July 1. Within days, there was a petition for supporters to sign to help get the case to the Supreme court. Players and employees took to the comments to express their willingness to go to community meetings, sign petitions, and do whatever they could to help the cause.
In the third week of September, Beach revealed that it was reopening for tournaments, and cash games followed.
Unlicensed charity poker can now get you fined $50K in Virginia, and nobody has a license.
Regular backroom poker used to mean SWAT raids.
Somehow, a poker room is still going strong in Virginia Beach. And nobody can explain what's happening.https://t.co/1PXaUqqHVR
— Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) September 30, 2022
However, the room then had to close again on October 4. They asked everyone to stay tuned “as we work towards a solution.”
One month later, the room reopened again, that time at a new location, though still in Virginia Beach.
Changes Necessary
At this point, charity poker rooms are operating in a gray area. Those opening their doors risk massive fines and potential legal action.
Meanwhile, there are so many agencies involved in charitable gaming in Virginia that it is confusing, to say the least. At the same time, the slow-but-steady process of legalizing commercial casinos has been moving along. The potential clash of power over general gambling regulations – and specifically poker and sports betting – will be an issue falling under the jurisdiction of numerous agencies.
Last month, the Virginia Joint Legislative Audie and Review Commission released two reports recommending that the Virginia Lottery should be the primary gambling regulator. Currently, per the reports, the Virginia Racing Commission (VRC) doesn’t have enough funding to appropriately regulate the horse racing industry in the state. And they noted the same of the VDACS regarding charitable gaming.
The report concluded, “Gaming regulation is not the primary function of VRC and VDACS. Both agencies need more staff and better technology to ensure that all gaming under their purview operates with integrity.”
Bringing all of it under one gambling umbrella will create a more streamlined and economically sound framework.
A new JLARC study recommends the Virginia Lottery oversee all gaming in Virginia. https://t.co/SsnSHscaQS
— David M. McGee (@DMcGeeBHC) October 18, 2022
