Poker bill busts; liquor's out of luck

Sponsor folds on measure to allow poker games to be played in private clubs

BY TYLER WHITLEY TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 5, 2005

Gambling and liquor sales did not fare well in the House General Laws Committee last week.

It set aside two bills that would have regulated poker, then it killed a measure to allow partial privatization of new ABC stores in Virginia.

Del. J. Chapman Petersen, D-Fairfax (City), introduced the two poker bills after reading a news report that the state had raided a high-stakes poker game at a Fraternal Order of Police lodge in Virginia Beach.

Going for the working man vote, Petersen is one of four Democrats seeking the nomination to run for lieutenant governor this year.

Televised Texas hold-'em poker games have attracted a large following and caught the attention of Virginia's Department of Charitable Gaming, which regulates bingo and raffles.

The department has begun investigating reports of excessive gambling in poker games.

One Petersen bill would require the Charitable Gaming Board to regulate poker games and require that poker games be held only in conjunction with bingo games. Poker prizes would be capped at $100.

A subcommittee recommended 6-0 against this measure, and it did not come up for a vote before the full committee. Petersen then decided to fold a second bill that would have allowed poker games in private clubs.

People who play poker in the basement of private clubs might be surprised to learn those games are illegal. Currently, the games are legal only when played in a private home -- as long as the host doesn't take a cut of the proceeds.

Petersen said he wanted to make sure members of private clubs weren't criminally liable. He thought fraternal organizations, such as the FOP and Moose lodges, would welcome the legislation, but they did not voice strong support, he said.

"I like to think everything I put in is for the working man, but these definitely were," Petersen said.

The ABC bill, proposed by Del. Allen L. Louderback, R-Page, drew the fire of retailers, church groups, the wine industry and the distilled spirits industry.

Louderback said the state shouldn't be in the business of selling alcohol when it is trying to cut down on drunken driving and teenage drinking.

His bill would allow the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to grant franchises to private sector retailers when it opens new stores. Several commissions have recommended retail franchising of the ABC business.

The state has operated the stores since Prohibition ended in the 1930s and now runs 300 stores.

Retailers objected because the new stores would have to be separate from existing stores. Thus a retailer who sells wine or beer could not get a license to sell distilled spirits under the same roof.

The wine industry objected because the bill would not have allowed the new stores to sell Virginia wines, as ABC stores now do.

Jack Knapp of the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists said the state should not loosen the regulation of alcohol sales.

The bill failed on a 14-3 vote.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or mailto:twhitley@timesdispatch.com