charity poker tournaments?

[Aces McGee]

Some work associates of mine who know I play poker have contacted me about running a charity poker tournament. I have no interest in doing this myself, but I thought I could at least help them out by finding out what they need to do to run this thing legally. Does anyone know of a good Web site I could send them too, or at the very least the local authorities they should call?

-McGee

[slamdunkpro]

They need to contact the county police dept. In Maryland there is almost no way to run a charity tournament legally

[StevieG]

According to the Maryland code listed at gambling-law-us.com (http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Maryland/) if your friends are part of a qualified organization, they may be good to go.

But it really all depends on the county. This past winter Baltimore City warned bars off holding tourneys, see this City Paper article for more. (http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9671)

The article mentions Fundraisers Unlimited. They are listed in the phonebook as being in Timonium. Your pals may want to call them, or any of the other fund raising organizations listed, if they are really interested in promoting their event and remaining legitimate.

Edit -- I just saw Slamdunkpro's response. Past posts show he has been around plenty of tournaments in the area. If he says this is tough to do, I believe him. --SG

[slamdunkpro]

[ QUOTE ]
According to the Maryland code listed at gambling-law-us.com if your friends are part of a qualified organization, they may be good to go

But it really all depends on the county. This past winter Baltimore City warned bars off holding tourneys, see this City Paper article for more.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK here’s the deal. gambling-law-us.com doesn’t have the county by county breakdown. Just recently all the charity games (legit and not so legit) in Baltimore County were shut down; the liquor board sent a letter to all licensees in Baltimore City informing them that charity tournament were illegal; Ann Arundle County just busted two games. So there we are.

In Baltimore County there is a way to run a charity card game, but the restrictions are large (no cash prizes for one). You need to see the complete code for all the details, or you can PM me and I’ll give you some experience.

[ QUOTE ]
The article mentions Fundraisers Unlimited. They are listed in the phonebook as being in Timonium. Your pals may want to call them, or any of the other fund raising organizations listed, if they are really interested in promoting their event and remaining legitimate.

[/ QUOTE ]

That article in the City Paper really brought the heat. – In fact one of the restrictions of the state and county codes is no outside operators.

Bottom line – now is not the time to run a charity poker game in Maryland.

[StevieG]

slamdunkpro, you da man.