Poker's popularity worries Utah officials

The fact that both schools are state-run, and that Salt Lake County allowed a different Texas Hold'em tournament at the county-run South Towne Expo Center just a week before it sent Diamond Poker Tour packing from the Salt Palace, underscores both how mainstream poker has become, and how confusing it is to sort out the legal ramifications.

"Everyone would agree that gambling in the state of Utah is illegal," says Salt Lake City prosecutor Sim Gill. "Whether a particular event meets the element of gambling is a case-by-case analysis." That analysis ends with a screening of the facts by a prosecutor's office, but begins with a gathering and investigation of those facts by a law enforcement entity.

"We need some clarification about the words in the (gambling) statute," says Sgt. Frank Ziebert of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's office. In the meantime, due to budget cuts, the sheriff's office doesn't have a vice unit anymore.

Sandy city attorney Walter Miller says that police have investigated several poker games in Sandy in the past couple of months. The city handed out a zoning citation to a car dealer who had sponsored a poker tournament and who told Miller that poker enthusiasts may try to get a bill brought before the Legislature to clarify the gambling statute.

Sandy is home to at least two night clubs that promote Texas Hold'em tournaments. "I told the (Sandy) police chief 'Just go down with plainclothes men and turn on the lights.' If you did that at some of these places people would stop coming." Under Utah law it is a Class B misdemeanor to provide or participate in illegal gambling. In Yocom's opinion, clubs that offer a round of tournament poker for the price of a dinner violate the law. The dinner is just a gimmick, he says. "That's the same old game as the bingo parlors."

Although bingo parlors have been around for decades, last spring West Valley police served a search warrant at Annie's Dinner and Bingo Club after conducting an undercover investigation for several months; more than 20 gaming machines were seized. The case is pending in 3rd District Court.

West Valley Police have looked into a couple of places that advertise poker tournaments, says Lt. Dale Brophy, head of the department's investigations division. "We're definitely not ignoring it, but there's nothing out here that warrants us to actively investigate," he says, adding that the prizes and buy-ins are small. The matter has been forwarded to city attorney Ryan Robinson. "We haven't made a decision yet how or if to approach the situation," Robinson says.