good game of questionable legality in Ohio

[BadBatsuMaru]

I live in Ohio and I play about 50 hours a week online (a lot of 3/6 ring and a lot of NL SNGs). I don't play live much, though -- just the occasional home game and a trip to the Belterra now and then.

I saw in the paper the other day there was a $50 tourney at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in my home town and decided to check it out for fun. Well, there weren't many people showing up for the tourney, but they have tons of tables in the Eagles basement and they have a 3/6 and 5/10 live game down there.

So, I played the 3/6 and it stayed 8-9 handed for awhile. These people were just unbelievablely bad. For example, one hand it was 8-handed, UTG straddled, I was first to act and 3-bet with AQ. Only two people folded. The showdown was a split pot between two people who each hit a runner-runner boat with 64o.

Anyway, this would be a fun game for me to play in now and then, but I think the rake is too high. They rake 10% ($1 for every $10) up to a max of $5. Even when it's down to 3-handed they continue the full rake. I haven't heard of any games with a max rake above $4. It's not like these guys are even legitimate pro dealers. I guess I'm just used to Party's max rake of $1 with 2-3 players, $2 with 4-5 players and $3 with 6-10 players.

I was mostly wondering about the legality of the game, though. It's at the Eagles, but it's in the basement. I think the game is actually somehow associated with a local baseball card shop (that's what the credit card receipts say). It's not like this is a charity event, and people can just walk in off the street and play.

Not sure what I'm actually looking for. I don't know that I'll bother saying, "Hey, I know this is illegal, and the least you could do is cut the max rake down a buck or two." I guess I was just looking for other people's opinions, because I really have very little experience with live poker (except home games).