Gilbert Arenas arrested on charges of illegal poker games

[PistonsFan#21]

The legal concept at issue here I believe is that you cannot profit from other peoples winnings in games of chance.

You and your friends can bet each other directly in dice or cards. But someone cannot collect a share of the pot as a third party host or service.

Someone could host a three point contest and collect an organizer's fee. Or a chess tournament, a Madden tournament, anything that is considered primarily skill based and not chance.

You just cant profit from hosting games of chance.

That makes sense. When it gets to high stakes poker games though you almost have no choice but to have a third party involved. You can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars moving around and rely on just the players to keep track of it. And the house is obviously not gonna work for free so they take a cut of the money to pay the card dealers, staff, etc which im sure all players were aware of when they pay the rake.

Whenever i played house poker games the host would always have a cut, whether he was playing or not that each player agreed to pay but none of us were millionaires and there wasn't life changing amount of money on the table.

[ShawkFactory]

That makes sense. When it gets to high stakes poker games though you almost have no choice but to have a third party involved. You can't have hundreds of thousands of dollars moving around and rely on just the players to keep track of it. And the house is obviously not gonna work for free so they take a cut of the money to pay the card dealers, staff, etc which im sure all players were aware of when they pay the rake.

Whenever i played house poker games the host would always have a cut, whether he was playing or not that each player agreed to pay but none of us were millionaires and there wasn't life changing amount of money on the table.

You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party

[ralph_i_el]

You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party

And that's because without restricting it to licensed businesses, it becomes the domain of organized crime.

[highwhey]

And that's because without restricting it to licensed businesses, it becomes the domain of organized crime.

Yeah but it's absolute bs also, aside from taking a rake, gilbert just needed better lawyers. wealthy people attend "charity" games all the time. just because the host isn't officially taking a slice, doesn't mean they aren't being compensated otherwise.

it sounds like someone lost and was upset then snitched to their fed buddies.

[ralph_i_el]

Yeah but it's absolute bs also, aside from taking a rake, gilbert just needed better lawyers. wealthy people attend "charity" games all the time. just because the host isn't officially taking a slice, doesn't mean they aren't being compensated otherwise.

it sounds like someone lost and was upset then snitched to their fed buddies.

Sure, but those charity games are still monitored/on the books. They aren't getting robbed, and people aren't committing corruption to pay off debts accrued during charity poker games.

[highwhey]

this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad

[ralph_i_el]

this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad

I can want the epstein files, AND want Israeli mafiosos to go to jail.

[warriorfan]

this is such a sham of a case. total waste of resources. it's not just some fbi agents, it's the prosecutor's office, the courts, must be a 7 figure expenditure on behalf of the federal government to stop an illegal card game, or series of card games


meanwhile they are completely ignoring the plea of the people to release files and investigate the epstein case without prejudice. oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad

[MrFonzworth]

[PistonsFan#21]

You are absolutely correct. And a license is required to be that 3rd party

I understand that it makes it illegal. I'm just saying that those type of games where the house takes a rake happen everywhere all the time. The government only gets involved when its high stakes and they dont get a cut of the profit (aka gambling license).

[Yes or No]

oh wait, this is amerikka, laws for thee but not for me...my bad

https://streamable.com/srl9an

This is you.

[Hoon]

Wild how Arenas can’t stay away from card-related trouble. The feds coming in makes this way bigger than some backyard poker night. When they say “conspiracy,” it usually means they’ve been watching for months. Even the $50k bond is light considering the indictment. I had my own dumb California arrest years ago, nothing this serious, but getting released fast made a huge difference. Alana's Bail Bonds handled that part when I needed it, then the real stress came later in court.