Illegal Poker

September 13, 2008

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation raided a Pueblo poker room last week after years of surveillance. The CBI finally went after a poker room that they have been watching and gathering evidence on for the past four years. They waited a long time for this bust, and wanted to make sure that they had all of the information that they could before going in.

Larry Lee Wittman, 63, has been cited for professional gambling – which is a misdemeanor in the state of Colorado. This was the second time that the CBI had come after him for operating an illegal poker game.

This time there were ten players in the room, all of whom received a misdemeanor gambling ticket for their involvement in the poker game. It seems that the poker business does not come without its problems.

The first time the police were involved in the poker game was when someone decided to hold them up. Masked gunman broke into the place in October of 2004 and took thousands of dollars in cash from the poker players, whom they pistol-whipped.

Wittman moved the poker game to another location, the one where the police raided last week. Some say that he will assuredly move the poker game to another location and police will go after him again. However, one has to wonder – since it isn’t hurting anyone, and is only a misdemeanor – are tax dollars really being spent wisely watching this guy for months at a time?