A Final Word on the Legality of NYC Poker

[shipitfish]

asphnxma over at ftrain has done some research about New York State laws. I am glad to see they are much more lax with regard to players than Massachusetts law was. My reading of MA law was that even playing was a misdemeanor. If asphnxma is right, here in New York, we can play with impunity.

That just makes the fact that it is illegal all the more silly. If players need not fear criminal prosecution, those of us without outstanding warrants (which is hopefully most all players) are never going to stop playing. The clubs will keep taking the risk, because the $8/hour/person is just too lucrative to pass up.

Our country has lost the "Drug War", and in that case, we are prosecuting users and they still use. Imagine how much harder it would be if users knew that they couldn't be charged with a single thing! The worst that happens to a non-criminal poker player is he loses that night's buy-in. I always take only one buy-in to every game anyway; since they run every night, why risk playing more than that? I risk more against the loose-aggressive players who draw out on my big hands than I do with the police!

This silliness has to stop. I've written to Bob Ciaffone, who is getting serious about working to legalize poker, and offered my help. I don't know if a lobbying effort would be successful, but I think it's worth considering. It can't be harder than drug decriminalization, even if the Atlantic City lobbyist will show up to fight us.

As a final side-effect, if asphnxma's analysis is correct, is that online poker is clearly legal to play from my apartment in New York. It feels good to be legal.