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biondino
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01-16-2007, 03:34 PM
Post subject: Oh shit - Gutshot boss found guilty
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#1 (permalink)
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4-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Putney, UK; Full Tilt,Mansion; $50 NL and PL; $13 and $16 SNGs at Stars
Posts: 3,170
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This really, really sucks. Jurors are SO STUPID!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6267603.stm
Derek Kelly, 46, argued poker is a game of skill so he did not need a licence under the 1968 Gaming Act, as the law requires it only for games of chance.
But the jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court disagreed and took less than two hours to find him guilty of organising games at his Gutshot Club in central London.
The prosecution said he took a cut from the prize pot as well as charging the players for participating.
Kelly, a financial analyst from Greystones, Co Wicklow, Ireland, was found guilty of two counts of contravening of the Act.
If we accept that a game of chance includes all games of combined chance and skill every game you could possibly think of would fall foul of this particular Act
Zeeshan Dhar, defence lawyer
The charges related to games of poker, organised on 7 December 2004 and 27 January 2005, at the private members club in Clerkenwell in which a levy was charged on the winnings.
The Act states a licence is needed to host games of chance such as blackjack and roulette - but not games of skill, like chess and quiz machines.
The trial centred around the popular Texas Hold 'Em variant of poker, in which each player is dealt two cards and then a "community pool" of five cards is placed on the table.
The jury was asked to decide whether it was a game of skill or chance, or a combination of both.
Graham Trembath QC, told the jury that they alone would decide the verdicts.
He said: "Is poker a game of mixed skill and chance? That is for you to decide. The prosecution submit that common sense dictates that it is.
"Why do we say that? We say that because before a game can start someone shuffles the cards."
Zeeshan Dhar, defending Kelly, told the jury poker required such a level of skill it did not fall within the remit of the Act.
He said: "If we accept that a game of chance includes all games of combined chance and skill every game you could possibly think of would fall foul of this particular Act."
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biondino
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4-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Putney, UK; Full Tilt,Mansion; $50 NL and PL; $13 and $16 SNGs at Stars
Posts: 3,170
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He said: "Is poker a game of mixed skill and chance? That is for you to decide. The prosecution submit that common sense dictates that it is.
"Why do we say that? We say that because before a game can start someone shuffles the cards."
Before a football game someone tosses a coin. Does this mean football is a game of chance? This is THE most pathetic argument I ever heard.
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jyms
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Tilting Mod
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,836
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The lawyer is an idiot. This could have ben argued better than he did.
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Warpe
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Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Canuckistan
Posts: 3,905
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They need to appeal this, obv.
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JB25163
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3-of-a-Kind
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 62
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"The prosecution said the Irish man took a cut from the prize pot as well as charging the players for participating."
If this is true, then the ruling was correct. Skill versus chance isn't even the issue. Bars and clubs can host games as long as they don't profit from them. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Warpe
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Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Canuckistan
Posts: 3,905
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Skill vs. chance was the key issue in this case under British law.
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