July 8th, 2008
excerpt:
The State Doesn’t Even Have a Law Against ‘Gambling’ on the Books
Old and archaic can be used to describe most state laws pertaining to the game of poker in the United States, and Massachusetts is no different. Massachusetts is the second state to go under CardPlayer.com’s home-poker legal examination, and Patrick Fleming — New Hampshire attorney, poker rights advocate, state director of the Poker Players Alliance, and the frontman and lead organizer for the PPA’s litigation network — put it this way when opening the conversation about Massachusetts:
“Boy, it’s an interesting state when it comes to the legality of poker,” he said. “Massachusetts statutes are ancient. They really haven’t rewritten a gambling law since the early 1900s, and there are very few Massachusetts court cases interpreting those laws.”
Fleming’s home state of New Hampshire was the first state to be analyzed.
Fleming calls Massachusetts a “skill vs. chance” state. That is, Massachusetts law protects games that it deems skillful, so if there ever was a day that poker would go on trial there, it would be up to the lawyers to prove that poker is a game of skill and should be protected.
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Online Gambling Legislation - Massachusetts Home Poker Law is Ancient
Author Contact Info: Bob Pajich
