You can see why raiding a poker room seems like such a win-win for the po-po. It\’s such a low-risk operation, the busted citizens have little to complain about when they get to settle for an eensy-weensy ticket, and — thanks to asset forfeiture laws — the cops are virtually guaranteed to walk away with some cash for PD coffers.
But a case moving through the system in Seward, Pennsylvania (a rural community outside of Pittsburgh) is challenging this legal MO (which, personally, I think could sell very well on an infomercial: \”For three payments of $79.95, I\’ll share with you the \’Dallas Poker Raid Secrets\’ that are helping police department vice units all across the country increase usable revenue by tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands a year!\”).
In this case, the room that got busted was the hall of a volunteer fire department — and the guy running weekly fundraiser tourneys was a lawyer, meaning he\’s far more inclined to challenge various poker legal issues in court. As things stand right now, the cops want the firemen to turn over $40,000 in poker earnings (they\’ve already taken possession of $9k) and firehouse representatives are resisting. Will be very interesting to see how this one is resolved … race situation, imho.
UPDATE: Just to be clear to any non-poker readers out there, by \”race situation\” we are talking heads-or-tails, not black and white.
