Someone once argued to me that since we have no “western frontier
spirit” it was going to be impossible to truly decriminalize
poker on the east coast. He could be right.
For NYC, it's a complex situation. Bloomberg was forced to crack down
due to highly publicized visits to clubs by famous baseball players
(Alex Rodriguez) and actors (Robert Iler of The Sopranos
and Macaulay Culkin of — um, uh, has he done anything since
Home Alone?) just before a mayoral election. Meanwhile,
the vice squad likely see it as an easy bust (I mean, it's easier than
drugs and prostitution rings), and a quick take of cash probably equal
to at least the prostitution busts.
There is some theorizing that someone who has a grudge against the
clubs — calling saying there is a fight or something else going
on at the address. Once the police show up for that a few times, they
eventually have to bust what they see, even though the call is of
course fake.
The most ironic thing is that off-track betting is 100% legal in NYC
and there are stands and kiosks for it on ever other block throughout
Manhattan. I suppose it's just easier to regulate and more profitable
for the city than taxing poker clubs the way California does.
Meanwhile, no one running the clubs actually wants to legalize. They
are happy to pay their fines and their attorneys retainers and keep
operating. As one dealer/floorman said to me, The last thing I
want is a Trump poker house in the middle of Manhattan. If I wanted
to work for Trump, I'd have moved to Atlantic City already.
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Date: 2006-03-10 16:05 (UTC)Someone once argued to me that since we have no “western frontier spirit” it was going to be impossible to truly decriminalize poker on the east coast. He could be right.
For NYC, it's a complex situation. Bloomberg was forced to crack down due to highly publicized visits to clubs by famous baseball players (Alex Rodriguez) and actors (Robert Iler of The Sopranos and Macaulay Culkin of — um, uh, has he done anything since Home Alone?) just before a mayoral election. Meanwhile, the vice squad likely see it as an easy bust (I mean, it's easier than drugs and prostitution rings), and a quick take of cash probably equal to at least the prostitution busts.
There is some theorizing that someone who has a grudge against the clubs — calling saying there is a fight or something else going on at the address. Once the police show up for that a few times, they eventually have to bust what they see, even though the call is of course fake.
The most ironic thing is that off-track betting is 100% legal in NYC and there are stands and kiosks for it on ever other block throughout Manhattan. I suppose it's just easier to regulate and more profitable for the city than taxing poker clubs the way California does.
Meanwhile, no one running the clubs actually wants to legalize. They are happy to pay their fines and their attorneys retainers and keep operating. As one dealer/floorman said to me, .