Poker raids not a bluff

Canada -- For more than eight months now, card players who were arrested when Winnipeg police raided three unlicensed poker games have been complaining that the whole process is a waste of time.

Last week, a provincial court judge gave more legitimacy to their argument when he sentenced the very first player who pleaded guilty to absolutely nothing.

Neil Faderon, who testified to sometimes dealing poker games at the Barca Club, was simply playing in a cash game there the night of May 31, 2007, when the cops came in and rounded everybody up.

Despite Faderon's guilty plea, Judge Rocky Pollack excused him from any punishment beyond the nuisance of his arrest and subsequent court attendance by granting him an absolute discharge, meaning he will get no sentence and no record.

"I don't see where the public interest would demand that I grant you anything but an absolute discharge," Pollack said.

After the hearing, Faderon said he felt right from day one that the whole thing was "a waste of time."

This echoed the sentiments of another player named Andrew Moncek, who last fall told me essentially the same thing during an earlier court date.

"This was a waste of everyone's time and money," he said. There are a good number of people in the city who probably feel the same way.

It's pretty hard to argue with the players on this one.

Although it is technically illegal to play unlicensed poker in Canada, it's also technically illegal to fail to guard a hole you make in the ice (seriously, look it up).

But there is more to it.

The unfortunate thing for the dozens of players who've been dragged through court is that they were sort of collateral damage. They were there during the raids, and the cops couldn't ignore that, but it wasn't the players they were after.

The cops wanted to put a stop to illegal poker games, overall, from occurring in Winnipeg. The games were simply getting too popular, the profits were growing, and the wave was building.

While some would argue the government just wanted to shut out the small businessman from cutting into their gambling revenues, there are two perfectly valid reasons for shutting down these games.

The first is that casinos don't let you play on credit. I have heard no suggestion any of the three games that were busted were operating on credit, but being outside a regulated casino means there is no certain way of ensuring that doesn't happen. It was only a matter of time before someone in one venue or another started "lending" players their bankroll.

Related to that is the second point, that police were legitimately concerned about the amount of undeclared, under-the-table cash being generated by these games.

Again, there is no suggestion those allegedly profiting from the raided games were into anything sinister, but if organized criminals began to see the police turning a blind eye to illegal gambling, you can be sure they would want to get in on the action. Organized crime groups like to make cash hand-over-fist under the table, and -- even in Winnipeg -- they also like to spend it on things like machine guns and kilograms of cocaine.

All of a sudden, your little poker game isn't so innocent any more.

It's too bad for the players and club owners who took the initial fall, but the raids were not a waste of time.

News Added: 14 February, 2008

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