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Partial Victory in S.C. Poker Case

By Ed Brayton

There is a very important case going on in South Carolina over the illegality of poker in that state and whether poker is a game of skill and thus exempt from the laws against gambling. On Friday, the defendants won a partial victory, with the court finding the defendants guilty but agreeing that poker is a game of skill and leaving it up to a higher court how to apply the law in light of that fact.

The trial court recognized that this is an "easy case" for acquittal if the proper test under South Carolina law is whether a game is predominantly one of skill. But it concluded that a higher court must decide that issue. PPA will work with the defendants to promptly appeal the case, and they expect to prevail through that appeal. The Justices of the South Carolina Supreme Court who have addressed the issue have concluded that - consistent with the rulings of other states - the "predominance" test is correct. In addition, the South Carolina Attorney General has expressly embraced the predominance test. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on February 28, 2009 (boomark / email).