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Appeal Sought in Poker Case
 
August 26, 2009

You know that you are dedicated to the game of poker when you are fighting for something that you have been found innocent of. A Windsor man has determined that even though he himself was found innocent of all wrong doing as it pertains to poker, he wants to make sure that no one else is accused of doing anything wrong. He wan to see poker legalized as he says that under Colorado law it is already legal.
 
Kevin Raley was charged with illegal poker playing last fall when Rafferty’s Bar was raided by police. As state law says that poker playing, i.e. games of chance, are illegal at bars with a state liquor license – the police determined that they were all breaking the law. Raley’s attorney argued that poker was a game of skill not chance and therefore he was not breaking the law.
 
The judge found him innocent of the charges but Raley wants to make sure that no one else is charged with illegal poker playing. Weld County District Court Judge James Hartmann said that the state had already determined that poker playing was gambling and that it was illegal, but the Poker Player’s Alliance is disputing that claim. They say that the government has lumped poker playing and gambling in the same pot for a long time and that this is incorrect. They are seeking justice not just for poker playing but for all games.
 
They say that based on the way that the judge is interpreting poker that any game that has any element of chance at all is illegal. They say that under this ruling Monopoly and Candy Land are illegal as well.