If you pay attention to poker new
happening around the country you may have recently seen that a group of people
in South
Carolina were charged with
misdemeanors and fined. If you had not heard about it you might be wondering
what disgusting thing this group of people did? They were playing a home game
of poker.
The raid on the players was done on
April 4th and ensnared around 27 players. The search by police was
performed with a search warrant, supposedly after a 10 month long
investigation. Notably, the owners of the home said they have only been holding
the poker game for 8 months. It was reported that approximately $40,000
was seized from the players. Some of the players charged and fined have decided
that enough is enough. They have requested a trial by jury and will bring their
case to court. Now that we have some background on what happened we can further
ask the question, what law were they breaking?
I am not an expert in criminal law,
nor am I licensed to practice law in South
Carolina, but just looking at
some of the state statutes we can get an idea of what laws the police were
enforcing. Section 16-19-40 covers unlawful games and gambling. Essentially this
law prohibits any type of gaming anywhere. It does not matter if you are
playing craps, blackjack or playing poker, you simply cannot do it without violating this
law. If you are a player the potential punishment is a jail term not to exceed
30 days or a fine not over one hundred dollars. However if you are the home
owner where the game takes place the penalty is much more sever. You may be
imprisoned for a period up to 12 months and pay a fine not to exceed $2,000 for
each and every offense. Depending on how many offenses you are charged with,
you can see how the penalties stack up quickly. This reflects the state
legislature’s intent to remove any place where someone can play and it
recognizes that people who host the games may charge a fee or rake for players
thereby deriving benefit from players. In addition to charges stemming from
merely hosting the game, home owners face issues if they have a poker table.
Under 16-19-50 no one is allowed to set up, keep, or use a gaming table. The
fine for having a gaming table ranges from $200 to $500 dollars.
Lastly, some of you may be wondering
if the police can really seize the $40,000 from players. The South Carolina
legislature allowed for the seizure and forfeiture in provision 16-19-80. Each
and every amount of money that is bet in any prohibited game is forfeited.
Some poker players will be taking their case
to a jury. If they are able to find a sympathetic jury, or one who believes the
punishment does not fit the crime, they might win. Players will be watching
around the nation, and so will I.
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