Utah authorities crack down on club gaming

Travis Reed

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Police and prosecutors in Utah's most populous county on Thursday said they've banded together to crack down on poker tournaments in private clubs -- which are becoming an increasingly popular marketing tool to get people to come out on weeknights.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard, District Attorney David Yocom, police and attorneys from municipalities throughout the county appeared for the announcement, which came one day after the Statewide Association of Prosecutors of Utah passed a resolution to "diligently" prosecute these cases.

Kennard said he hoped the announcement "might prevent some future citizens from suffering financially or emotionally" through gambling.

Utah is one of only a handful of states where gambling is illegal -- including a state lottery. But as poker tournaments set up to bring crowds into bars -- many featuring a game called "Texas hold 'em" depicted on television and movies -- have raised eyebrows in law enforcement, bar owners have become increasingly more crafty about finding loopholes to make sure they're not sponsoring "gambling" by holding card tournaments.

In order for something to legally constitute as gambling, three conditions must exist: players must be risking something, the game must include at least some element of chance and players must stand to gain something of value in winning.

Some bar owners, like Michael Kampros of Club 90 in Sandy, have stopped charging players any kind of an entry fee. Kampros estimates that at least 80 people come to his bar every Sunday through Thursday for poker night, and that as many as 30 percent of them don't buy anything.

In order to play, a patron must only have a membership to his bar. Even without an entry fee, Kampros is able to give out more than a thousand dollars each week in prize money and still make it worth his while to draw people in with the game -- though he declined to be more specific.

Kampros said the announcement won't prompt him to change anything about his business, because he isn't doing anything illegal. Still, he commiserated that the state is needlessly tough on bar owners.

"They'll allow it in bingo parlors, but not in private clubs," he said. "This is their state, this is their ballpark, and they make all the ground rules," he said of the liquor commission.

Kennard said it was important to stem the tide of illicit poker games before it becomes a bigger problem, but also conceded that authorities still weren't going to be able to devote extensive resources to it.

"If I have to choose between covering a murder and covering a poker game, you know what I'm going to pick," Kennard said.

Part of the problem, the officials said, was that increased media attention on poker has prompted more public complaints that officers have to investigate.

Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse said police generally don't investigate something unless it's either "conspicuous, commercial, or complained about."

Another purpose of the gathering, authorities said, was to inform the general public that they might be unknowingly breaking the law simply by participating in one of these poker games.

In February, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which regulates bars and private clubs, sent a letter to licensees in February warning that sanctioning gambling is a "grave violation" carrying a possible penalty of a suspended or revoked liquor license and a fine from $1,000 to $25,000.