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While a St. Cloud legislator plans to make
sure Texas Holdem won't land card players in
court, prosecutors and law enforcement
officers continue to sort through possible
charges from a poker raid.
Sen. Dave Kleis said Wednesday that he will
introduce a bill next legislative session to
make poker tournaments legal, like golf or
pool tournaments. He plans to start
researching the legislation.
"If you're going to ban Texas Holdem, you
might as well ban everything," he said.
"It's a game of skill. It's ridiculous that
you can't have those types of tournaments."
Kleis has thought about such legislation for
a while. This week's raid of Granite Bowl
during a Texas Holdem tournament prompted
him to make it a priority.
No charges have been filed yet in the raid,
but authorities said the promoters and
organizers could face criminal charges.
Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall said
an attorney in her office has been assigned
to the case. Charges could be filed after
the investigation is complete, something
that could take months.
A search warrant filed Wednesday in Stearns
County details how investigators came to
raid the poker tournament after getting a
tip about it.
Investigators said in the warrant that they
talked with owner Dave Bischoff in May about
whether the tournament was legal.
Bischoff assured them then that the
tournament would end, the warrant said.
Kendall said the fact that Bischoff had been
warned spurred the raid and the increased
enforcement efforts.
"We tried to do it other ways," she said.
"We gave him an opportunity to knock it off
without it coming to this. He basically
bragged that he was getting away with this.
... What kind of message would it send if he
was allowed to continue?"
Officers alleged in the search warrant
application that Bischoff had told at least
one patron he was pushing the issue with the
state gambling law authorities.
The patron told the undercover officer
that's what Bischoff said, search warrant
documents said.
Bischoff has acknowledged being warned by
state authorities. But his attorneys told
him the promotion was legal, he has said.
The undercover officer visited the bar
during tournaments twice, in June and July,
court documents said.
And Monday night, authorities shut down the
tournaments, detaining about 40 people and
seizing poker chips, promotional materials
and other gambling-related items.
The officer also said he saw an increase in
food and drink sales and the number of
patrons when the tournament started,
documents said.
At the heart of the criminal investigation
is whether Bischoff's bar made money off of
the tournament through such things as
increased food and drink sales.
The law doesn't allow that, investigators
say.
Texas Holdem isn't classified by the law as
a game of skill as are pool, darts or golf
so the same types of tournaments aren't
allowed. |
