26 face gambling charges after poker games raided

Canada -- Twenty-six people face gambling-related charges after police raided two illegal backroom card games, one in a Waterloo apartment and the other at a Guelph hotel.

Poker -- in this case Texas Hold 'em -- isn't illegal, police said yesterday.

But making money off a game by charging players or taking a share of their winnings is.

"It is very prevalent out there," said Det. Sgt. Bill Sword of the OPP illegal gambling unit.

At 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, OPP, Guelph Police and Waterloo regional police, raided a banquet room at the Ramada Inn at 716 Gordon St. in Guelph and an apartment unit at 17 Austin Dr. in Waterloo.

Police said they acted on complaints, some from disgruntled spouses and some from gambling addicts and others who have lost money on the poker games.

"These people lose a lot of money," Sword said. "It is not uncommon for people to come in with thousands of dollars and leave with nothing."

Police seized gaming tables, chips, cards and $8,425 in cash in the two raids this week.

Twenty-one people were charged with being found in a gaming house and another five were charged with keeping a gaming house.

The penalty for the first offence is a fine, and the maximum penalty for keeping a gaming house is two years in jail.

Sword said some establishments can make up to $2,000 a night from one poker table, either by charging people to play or taking a percentage, usually 10 per cent, of the winnings.

Sword said most convictions for keeping a gaming house have resulted in fines of $5,000 to $10,000. This is small, considering an establishment can make $400,000 a year from just one card table, he said.

The arrests in Waterloo and Guelph were the result of a five-month police investigation, he said.

"We are basically reacting to complaints coming in. We are not proactive. . . . There is so much of it going on."

Those arrested at the Guelph hotel were all employees and ranged in age from their early 20s to mid-50s. Most were men.

At the Waterloo apartment, all those arrested were men in their early 20s, Sword said.

Since Texas Holdem started to be played on television, "we are finding more and more people playing this game," he said.

And while the majority of players have been men, more women are beginning to play.

Running the games has become a lucrative business with those involved in organized crime as well. Because they are selling a service, and not a product like drugs, there is less risk and smaller penalties, Sword said.

The Record

News Added: 19 October, 2007

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