Sean Murphy (left), who ran the Cavendish Club in Belfast, was today convicted at Belfast Magistrates Court on four counts under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements Order 1985. One of the counts related to running poker on his premises. Under the 1985 legislation there is a £4 limit on what players are allowed to wager and a cap of 60 pence on the house rake. Not easy to run a commercial operation on this basis. Following the recent ruling in the Gutshot case, Mr Murphy was unable to convince the court that poker should be regarded as a game of skill.In an indication of the attitude of the authorities to poker in Northern Ireland, the prosecution lawyer in the case said, “Police hope that this is the first of many such prosecutions.”
True to their word, Police arrived in another club in Co. Derry later that very night and proceeded to close it down. They allowed the organisers to refund the players their buy-in and did not seize any equipment but threatened to do so if the club opened up again. It is unclear whether any prosecution will follow but the chances are that this is what will happen.
It looks like Northern Irish players are now to be left in a state of limbo as far as poker is concerned. Even though we are part of the UK, where poker is freely available in an ever growing number of legal casinos covering the length and breadth of the other three countries of the so called ‘United’ Kingdom, poker is deemed to be illegal under the existing laws in N. Ireland. As there are no legal casinos or a gaming board in N. Ireland, it looks like we are the odd man out. Whatever happened to equal rights for all citizens? Local players will now have to cross the border to the Irish Republic to play live poker. They can still gamble at home as much as they want via the internet or by phone to various television stations or in the bookmakers shop or the local lottery terminal. So, that’s all right then but, if you want a game of live poker, it looks like it’s a return to some back room somewhere and, if you don’t like the conditions or the rake, it’s probably best not to complain.