South Carolina Poker Raid
South Carolina Poker Raid A case currently being tried in South Carolina shows the need for poker law reform around the country. Friday, a judge rejected an argument to throw out charges against participants in a house game that was raided in April of 2006. At the time, a raid was conducted, using questionable discretion as to the allocation of manpower and taxpayer money, to take down a game at a private residence whose players were middle-aged working class guys and at least one 78-year-old grandmother.

Entering with the best of SWAT tactics and with guns drawn, the cops arrested everyone in the house for violating several South Carolina laws which had been on the books for two hundred years. The laws were so antiquated and outdated, they forbid the playing of such popular games as roly-poley, rouge et noir and draughts.The law also required the domicile to be considered an illegal casino or public gaming house; defense attorneys argued that it was clearly a home, in which the owner lived.

Still, Judge J. Lawrence Duffy Jr. of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, said that the legislature had had ample chances to review the ancient laws and declined the opportunity, indicating they found no problem with the language of the statutes. Defense attorneys estimate the two-year-old case could now continue for two or three more years, an insane use of the time and personnel of the judicial system.

Despite the daily presence of poker in our lives, through television and other media, and the availability of cards and poker chips at any department store, authorities feel the need to make these easy arrests, in which no dangerous or diligent police work is required and headlines can be achieved. Isn't time we force those responsible for protecting our lives and property to focus their efforts on doing so, and leave our living-room games of entertainment alone?