The Utah Highway Patrol seized video poker machines from three Sanpete County businesses earlier this month: at Casey's Cafe and the Triangle Lounge in Mt. Pleasant, and at the Sno-Cap Lanes in Ephraim. Owners of the businesses were charged with possession of a gambling device, gambling and gambling promotion, all Class B misdemeanors.

"I believe it's an up-and-coming business," UHP Lt. Tony Garcia said after the seizures. "I believe we will encounter more of these throughout the state of Utah."

When agents executed search warrants in Sanpete County, they found a man at one of the machines who had dropped $500 into it, Garcia said. Other patrons said they had lost up to $100. Those losses, and their corresponding angry patrons, are what spawned the investigation, Garcia said.

In February amid rumors that several bars in Utah were operating such machines or hosting poker tournaments, the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control sent a notice warning that alcohol licenses could be revoked or suspended (with fines of up to $25,000) for any businesses found to allow gambling on their premises. That is a stiff penalty that could essentially put offending bars out of business.

"The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act clearly prohibits gambling and use of gambling devices on any licensed premises," the notice warned. "If we receive a law enforcement report of illegal gambling we will hereafter take administrative action."

The notice included copies of an opinion from the state Attorney General's Office that said poker is a game of chance — and therefore a form of gambling — and not a game of skill as some poker clubs contend.

Poker clubs

One can find poker games any night of the week in the Salt Lake Valley. But the promise of a crackdown by law enforcement and prosecutors in April has taken the wind out of a few sails. Diamond Poker Tours of Ogden has apparently packed its bag. Big SLC Poker Club, which had been offering nightly games in Sandy, closed its doors. And some places, like Sandy's Club 90, have been forced to change their rules.

In April, the same week law enforcement officials and prosecutors held a press conference promising to be tough on gambling, Club 90 got a letter from the State Bureau of Investigations, says manager Randy Snyder. If the club didn't bring its poker games into compliance with state law, the letter said, it could lose its liquor license.