Poker players were hoping that arguments pointing out the role of skill in poker could win over a Wisconsin judge, perhaps leading to the legalization of the game through the state.

Instead, they learned that decades of precedent outweighed the mechanics of poker.

The case in question had poker pro Mark Kroon and Steve Verrett, the state director of the Poker Players Alliance, asking a us state court to produce a judgment that is declaratory the legality of poker in case.

In particular, they desired a ruling on whether the overall game was one of skill or luck, something they hoped would help define the game as legal if your judge came down on the relative part of skill.

At the brief minute, poker is illegal under Wisconsin legislation, at the least outside of tribal casinos.

While the law is not regularly enforced against home games, it does prevent bigger poker gatherings, such as those that Kroon attempted to organize during the Players Sports Bar in Madison, which he owns.

Judge Speaks Highly of Poker, But Says Law is Binding

Saw a judge make the ruling that poker players had been waiting for wednesday.

But with about 20 local poker players in attendance, a Dane County judge said that despite their interest in the game, what the law states had been what the law states.

‘I’ve got to say that poker is this kind of rich topic on so many levels,’ stated Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess. ‘It’s as much element of the American fabric, I believe, as baseball and apple pie. But having said that, I can’t disregard the law here, and the law unfortunately, to employ a poker analogy, is a stacked deck against the plaintiffs here.’

Judge Niess had no complaints about the arguments made by the plaintiffs, saying that they (and many others) had most likely shown beyond any doubt that poker had been a game of skill in the run that is long.

‘I have actually no doubt poker involves, into the run that is long skill than chance,’ Niess stated.

Ruling Hinged on 1964 Case

But Judge Niess ultimately relied on the 1964 case of State v. Morrissy, by which a unlawful conviction had been upheld by the state Supreme Court due to poker tournaments that have been occurring in a tavern. In that situation, Niess said, poker is particularly considered gambling.

‘That’s binding in this court whether they’ve considered your arguments [about the skill factor in poker]…or maybe not,’ Niess told the plaintiffs. ‘ If doesn’t appear they did, but the instance continues to be nonetheless binding on me.’

Niess proposed that to get relief, the plaintiffs would likely have to take their arguments most of the way to the state’s Supreme Court (which he compared to drawing to an inside straight), or make an attract the state legislature to change Wisconsin law.

Stan Davis, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, disagreed with the judge’s decision, saying that state gaming laws and regulations had changed notably since 1964, which Judge Niess had failed to consider.

He pointed up to a 2014 ruling by the usa Court of Appeals for the 7^th Circuit, which discovered that poker was not criminalized in the state.

But having neglected to sway the judge in this instance, poker games will stay illegal into the state, even as countless players continue to engage in little home games on a day-to-day basis.

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