By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Aug 6 (Reuters) – Poker may be a game of skill,
but that does not protect a man who hosted games of “Texas Hold
‘Em” from being prosecuted under an anti-gambling law, a federal
appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
York reversed a decision last year that said Lawrence DiCristina
could not be prosecuted because “Texas Hold ‘Em” was a game of
skill rather than chance.
At the center of the case is the Illegal Gambling Business
Act, a federal law enacted in 1970 to combat organized crime.
The law makes it illegal to run a gambling business that
violates a state’s laws and either earns more than $2,000 a day
or remains in operation for more than 30 days.
DiCristina was convicted under the law for running games of
“Texas Hold ‘Em” at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York,
which he publicised by text message and word of mouth.
In August 2012, U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein in
Brooklyn set aside the verdict, saying the statute was ambiguous
as to what gambling it covered and that “Texas Hold ‘Em” – as a
game of skill – was not covered by the anti-gambling law.
But in its ruling Tuesday, the 2nd Circuit disagreed with
Weinstein’s finding that the statute was ambiguous.
“Because we find no such ambiguity, we decline to limit the
statute’s reach beyond its plain terms,” U.S. Circuit Judge
Chester Straub wrote for a three-judge panel.
The 2nd Circuit sent the case back to Weinstein to schedule
sentencing. DiCristina faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in
prison.
The latest ruling is a potential setback for supporters of
legalizing online gambling in the United States.
A poker advocacy group called the Poker Players Alliance,
which wrote one of several friend-of-the-court briefs backing
DiCristina, called Tuesday’s ruling “unfortunate.”
The advocacy group noted that the ruling did not dispute
that poker was a game of skill and said it remained committed to
pushing for a federal definition of gambling as a game
predominated by chance.
Neal Katyal, a lawyer for DiCristina at the law firm Hogan
Lovells, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Brooklyn U.S.
Attorney Loretta Lynch did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
