The Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - A popular monthly poker tournament organized by a Virginia Beach police officer is folding because the city’s commonwealth attorney has concluded it’s illegal.
The tournament, which had been held at the Fraternal Order of Police headquarters, attracted about 150 players and could have a top prize of $4,500.
The next game had been scheduled for Sunday.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III said FOP leaders approached him to inquire about the legality of the poker event.
“They sought a legal opinion,” Bryant said. “We gave a legal opinion, and they are going to stop the game.”
In addition, Clyde Cristman, director of the Virginia Department of Charitable Gaming, said he received a complaint about the tournament in August and notified Bryant’s office. He said state law forbids all gambling in Virginia, with four exemptions:
-bingo and raffles held by charitable organizations;
-the state lottery;
-off-track pari-mutuel betting;
-and games held in private homes.
Poker is not outlawed by state statute, Christman said, but playing it for money anywhere but at a private residence is illegal.
Paul A. Farrell, the police officer who organized the event, said the FOP allowed him to use its lodge for the event and provided a lunch buffet for participants. He said the ruling was a shock to him because he had been assured that the game was legal as long as he did not take a “cut” of the proceeds.
Farrell said all proceeds - generated by a $75 fee charged to each participant - were turned over to the winners of the tournament.
“I thought I was doing everything on the up and up,” he said. “I definitely paid out everything that I took in.”
Farrell said he got the idea for a local tourney after seeing the popular celebrity poker games on television.
Farrell, 40, a patrol officer based at the 4th Precinct, said the Virginia Beach game started as a small gathering of police officers and their friends earlier this year. The first game attracted about 30 people, he said. The last two each drew about 150, some from as far away as the Shenandoah Valley.
“I was turning people away,” Farrell said.
Farrell compared the event to a golf or pool tournament, events that require skill, rather than simple games of chance such as bingo or raffles. He said that other Texas Hold ‘Em poker games are being held in the region and that he hopes if they, too, are forced to shut down, legislators will change the law to exempt tournament poker from the anti-gambling statutes.