Stratford and Milford police are looking into the legality of Texas Hold 'em Poker games being held at local restaurants and bars following an inquiry by the Stratford Star.
Employees at some of the restaurants - Harborside on Ferry Boulevard, and Knickerbocker's in the Westfield Shoppingtown Connecticut Post Mall and Bennigan's on Old Gate Lane in Milford - insist that the games held in their facilities once a week are legal...as far as they know.
But police said they aren't so sure, so they're conferring with each other, the state Attorney General's office and the state Liquor Control Division to get some answers.
To John Suchy, director of the Liquor Control Division in the state Department of Consumer Protection, it's not complicated at all. "These games are, on their face, unlawful," Suchy said. "They violate the state's anti-gambling criminal statutes."
Texas Hold 'em Poker is gaining widespread popularity. Anyone looking for a game need only go to the Internet, where a website lists poker game sites throughout the United States and several foreign countries. The website, www.homepokergames.com, lists more than 100 game sites and individuals looking for games in Connecticut, many of them college students.
Games are listed in cities throughout Connecticut, including Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Trumbull, Hamden, West Haven, New Haven, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs. They range from modest cash play to high-stakes poker.
At the center of the latest police probe into local games is Eli's on Whitney, a restaurant and lounge in Hamden. A manager at Eli's said the restaurant began allowing the game eight months ago, but discontinued the practice about four months ago after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the attorney general's office.
The game, held on Monday nights, was listed as a "cash game tourney of no-limit Hold 'em," featuring a $75 buy-in and $2,000 in chips that attracted 50 to 60 players. The website listed an e-mail address and contact telephone number for Eli's.
"It was a very popular game - a group of people who got together once a week to get away from their wives," said Kevin Fittsimmons, bar manager at Eli's.
Nevertheless, the restaurant acquiesced to the cease-and-desist letter. "We decided it wasn't worth losing our liquor license over, so we stopped it," Fittsimmons said.
Stratford police want more information about the reasoning behind Eli's cease-and-desist order before acting on local poker games.
"We're looking into it and discussing it with the attorney general's office," said Stratford Police Det. Capt. Andrew Knapp. "We're unsure of the distinction that was made to issue cease-and-desist letters to some establishments and not others."
Knapp said his department is aware that a weekly game takes place at Harborside. "As we understand it," he said, "Harborside is renting space to a promoter who puts the games on."
The question for police is whether that arrangement is legal and gets the restaurant off the hook.
A woman who identified herself as the manager at Harborside, but asked that her name not be used, said her understanding is that the restaurant is doing nothing illegal because it takes no money from the game.
"We rent our banquet facility to a man who hosts the game," she said. "We make our money on the sale of food and drinks."
She declined to identify the man.
Her position was pretty much the same as the positions expressed by employees at Knickerbocker's and Bennigan's restaurants in Milford. Employees at those establishments, who also asked that their names not be used, said the restaurants make money on the sale of food and beverages, but do not share in the cash generated by the games. Only the players can share in winnings, they said.
Hector Samuel, another manager at Eli's in Hamden, said he doesn't see any difference between the games at his restaurant and those at the restaurants in Stratford and Milford.
"We didn't get any of the money from the games, either," he said. "Only the players did."
And that's what has police puzzled. Why, they want to know, aren't all the restaurants and bars throughout the state where the game is played getting a cease-and-desist order?
Other factors that may come into play, according to an employee at Knickerbocker's, is how high the stakes are. She claims that there's a standard of play at a certain cash level that keeps the game legal. That's another clarification police are seeking from the attorney general's office.
To Liquor Control Division Director Suchy, that's a lot of hogwash. "These games, which we've seen proliferate in Connecticut, are clearly violations of the state's criminal statutes," he said.
He pointed out that those statutes have some minor exceptions. "Casinos are exempt," he said, "and so are social relationships, such as four friends who get together regularly to play cards. These poker tournaments at the restaurants and bars do not appear to be bona fide social relationships that would be considered social gambling."
He said they are, "rather, commercial business ventures, hence they appear to be a prohibited activity and subject to regulatory action by the Liquor Control Division. These tournaments are open to the public and, on their face, unlawful."
While Suchy's agency will deal primarily with laws regulating the issuance and use of liquor licenses, it will be up to local and state law enforcement to take action where criminal laws are being violated, he said.
"I have told Milford police what my reading of the law is, and also told them to consult with local prosecutors before taking any action to determine how they should proceed," Suchy said.
He said he believes that local prosecutors in this case would be the state's attorney's office.
Mark Dupuis, a spokesman for the Division of Criminal Justice, said, "If we receive inquiries from police, we will work closely with them to ensure that the law is properly enforced." The Division of Criminal Justice encompasses the chief state's attorney's office and the state's attorney's office.
While local police iron out the technicalities, Milford Police Spokesman Vaughan Dumas had some advice for the restaurants and bars where the games are being played. "I think the business establishments themselves should be clear on the law," he said, "and they should address that before allowing the game to be played on their premises."
©Stratford Star 2005
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