Indian Poker War Going on in Florida Over New Gambling Limits

Last Friday new laws went into affect in Florida that had poker rooms around the state scrambling to accommodate the thousands of players that were filling their poker rooms.

Now, it appears that the Indian Tribes were taking advantage of a loophole in the new law to allow no limit Texas Hold'em games, a move that in its first week of existence, nearly wiped out all tournaments at the Seminole Casinos in Hollywood and Coconut Creek.

The original law stated that a player could buy in for a maximum of $100 to sit and play at the casinos $1-2, or $2-5 tables. The Indian casinos were allowing players to buy in for $100, and then buying in as many times as they want for $100. Also, they were playing $5-10 games, with a minimum buy in of $500 and a maximum buy in of $5000. Their case is that the law states that you cannot force someone to buy in for more than $100.

On Thursday, the plug was pulled on these high stakes games and the casinos were back to hosting $1-2, and $2-5 games, with a maximum buy in of $100.

The Seminole Indians will certainly battle the wording of the new law in court, and since it is relatively new, and can be interpreted in different ways, there surely could be several rounds of legal battles before the actual law is correctly in place.



2007-07-06