By Brian Bakst
The Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. - David Bischoff thinks he got a raw deal last year when state gambling regulators raided his bowling alley and shut down his weekly Texas Hold 'em poker tournament.
For months afterward, the threat of criminal charges hung over Bischoff - and his card tables sat vacant - until prosecutors concluded that Minnesota's laws against poker were too vague to enforce.
Minnesota is now one of several states where legislators are looking to clarify card-game laws.
"These are just people who have been watching poker on TV and they want to come out and play and be like the people on TV," said Bischoff, whose tournaments are up and running again.
As the popularity of Texas Hold 'em has grown, so have problems for gambling regulators.
In Iowa, a couple of American Legion posts heeded warnings and halted their regular tournaments rather than jeopardize their charitable gaming licenses.
Police in Wyoming started breaking up Texas Hold 'em tournaments in bars, and the state's attorney general advised that the events were probably illegal. In Texas itself prosecutors are questioning whether bars are improperly profiting from tournaments.
Inquiries about poker became so common that Iowa's Department of Inspections and Appeals recently compiled a fact sheet on poker laws.
Minnesota state Sen. Dave Kleis introduced legislation that would define Texas Hold 'em as a "social skill game" and lump it with card games like cribbage and rummy - games in which players are allowed to win money in Minnesota.
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