brother, where art my hundred thou?

Atlanta-Area Home Game Busted --  This one picked up very little attention in the poker media, but you can read some of the details of the bust here.  24 people were arrested at a home in the South Hall neighborhood of Gainesville, GA, for “Commercial Gambling” (a.k.a. “running the game”) or “Gambling” (a.k.a. “ditto”).  A couple of people were cited for “Criminal Intent to Gamble,” which is apparently the charge used to legally steal the money from people who are present but aren’t actually gambling or running the game.  Another week, another Bible-Belt bust....

British Poker Case Challenges “Luck vs. Skill” Gambling Tenet --  Knowledgeable poker sorts know that one of the seminal legal decisions involving poker was the celebrated challenge that Billy Baxter made against the IRS two decades back, proving that poker winnings were a matter of skill rather than chance over the greater term.  Now a British case challenges some of the same sort of outmoded legal beliefs as they exist within the canon of UK law.  The specifics are a little different, of course, as restaurant/pub owner Derek Kelly challenges the existing 1968 statutes.  Kelly was charged with two counts of not having the needed license governing “games of chance” at his Gutshot restaurant, located in London.  One fact in Kelly’s favor: He took no fees for running the games.