Details on Ruling

January 31, 2009

With the announcement that Columbia County Judge Thomas A. James, Jr. had ruled that Texas Hold’em poker was a game of skill not chance, it was the shockwave that was felt around the country. Poker aficionados were thrilled to learn that poker was a game of skill legally, as it had always been a bone of contention between the government and the players.

But many poker players wondered what had brought James to this conclusion. Walter “Buzz” Watkins and his girlfriend Diane Dent were facing illegal gambling charges, as Watkins was running poker tournaments out of the Good Old Days Bar in Bloomsburg where he is the manager. He also hosted cash poker games in his garage at his house, also in Bloomsburg. The police received complaints about the poker games and investigated.

The police found that many of the players who were at the residence poker games were ones that started at the bar. There was a group at the bar playing a poker tournament which was legitimate, and then they went to his home where they played some more. The police reported that an undercover officer had been invited to the home and played in the illegal poker game.

They arrested Watkins and charged him with illegal gambling, and he went on trial. However the judge has ruled that as poker is a game of skill and not chances it is not actually gambling. Therefore, poker is legal in the state, and all charges were dropped, and all seized property from that poker game had to be returned.