OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

I should have mentioned this before instead of asking veiled questions.

My friend has recently aquired a boatload of money.

He wants to open a standalone cardroom somewhere, and the funny thing is, he doesn't care where. He asked me if I knew where it was 'legal' to open one...

Now I know he's going to be in touch with his lawyers to hammer it out, but since I am going to be somewhat involved in the process, I thought I would ask the question to the largest gathering of online poker players around.

So... states where stand alone cardrooms are legal.

Any info would be great...

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

I think you should come to Denver and make it legal.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

Iowa. If it's not legal now (I'm pretty sure it's not), $50k to the right gubernatorial candidate would probably make it legal.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

haha... while he does have deep pockets, he does not have political connections. He does have dual citizenship, however.

Any serious answers? 2+2 discounts for all, haha

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

[ QUOTE ]
haha... while he does have deep pockets, he does not have political connections. He does have dual citizenship, however.

Any serious answers? 2+2 discounts for all, haha

[/ QUOTE ]

Serious answer??

OK, he should have his damn lawyer get this info! Isn't that part of what he gets paid for? If his lawyer will be "hammering" out the details.. I think this is a pretty big one that should be hammered out early!

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

You're right. I just wanted to give him some early options to make it look like I'm helping out.

This guy isn't an idiot who won the lottery, the money is part of a buyout. I figured I could give him a list of states for him to look over to help speed up the process. I'm just as excited about this as he is! My good buddy wants to BUILD a poker room... a pretty classy one it sounds like.

Anyway... you're right. He'll have laywers on it. I just wanted to help get a jump start. I figured someone might know some states off the top of their head besides Nevada and California. I'm a clueless Canadian [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

serious suggestion: have him come to seattle and revive the hideaway. The hideaway is a very old cardroom (just poker, no table games) that went out of business about a year ago. Its got quite a reputation and a lot name-recognition, but the last owner (Aaron Katz, if you've heard of him) tried to revive it and failed. A lot of people were scared away because the building is sorta run-down and the parking lot is poorly lit, etc... (and imho, aaron mismanaged it). If you buddy bought it, though, he'd have a lot of advantages right out the door because its so well known and the location is great (its the closest cardroom to seattle - its just across the border in shoreline). I have a feeling that old chips and tables are still in storage somewhere too.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

Honestly...

You could go down to Miss or LA. I think they just changed the rules and now you can have land based casinos. I think they also are redesignating casinos as normal businesses and giving them tax breaks and support from the state government.

-Gryph

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

There are lots of places in Washington that could use a good card room. Here in Spokane the city is taxing all the cardrooms too much forcing them to move outside city limits. The nicest room in town is being forced to move in the next couple months. Most of the other rooms are kinda dumpy. I would think a nicely appointed, well run card room that spread good games and served good food would do very well.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

Build a nice one in MN, Canterbury could use some competition.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

I'll be honest with you ... anyone with a boatload of money starting a new business in a field they know nothing about is going to fail.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

Acquiring a license from the state to operate a gambling facility is hard work. Lots of states have a few rooms, but they aren't looking to put more in.

Even Louisiana and Miss in their weakened state are unlikely to want someone who has no gaming background.

So if you're buddy really wants to get into gaming, tell him to buy someone else's license.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

I have always said, if I could obtain a legal gambling license in the state of Texas, I would open up a place in Austin instantly.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

find an indian casino that has no poker room, work out a deal to build and operate a card room on their land and then pay them a piece. as far as i know you won't have to deal with any other authorites(state, fed, local, ...) then the tribe's gaming commision

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

Thanks for all the suggustions / ideas. He knows it will be a long road ahead with lots of obstacles.

Re: OK, I\'ll be honnest with you...
 

[ QUOTE ]
find an indian casino that has no poker room, work out a deal to build and operate a card room on their land and then pay them a piece. as far as i know you won't have to deal with any other authorites(state, fed, local, ...) then the tribe's gaming commision

[/ QUOTE ]

Even with indian casinos, I think the govt has some say. I know the Wisconsin tribes have issues with the govt all the time. Can't speak for other states. This is still the best idea I have seen so far on this thread though.

This sounds like a tough road. Outside of vegas, these places are charged high tax rates, face political opposition, if they do get legalized, they will quickly face competition from deeper pockets than your friend's.