A judge in Manitoba, Canada, surprised a packed courtroom last Friday, when he dropped charges on two poker players arrested for participating in an unlicensed poker game.
The pair, Neal Faderson and Rellen Orcullo, was considered to be dealers who had helped facilitate the illegal poker games. The Judge, Rocky Pollock said 'Some people are astounded that this matter is in the criminal courts' before urging people to contact their MP if they wanted to see the law changed.
Judge Pollock discharged the pair, allowing them to keep a clean criminal record.
The poker raid occurred on May 31st last year, and was one of several around the city, in a law enforcement bust dubbed 'Project Kaleidoscope'. There were around 60 officers involved in the bust which shut down several illegal games in clubs around the area.
There were 57 people charged after the Project Kaleidoscope raids. More than 50 of the players will have their charges dropped after the complete a 'positive lifestyles' program ran by the Salvation Army.
The only legal poker games in Manitoba are ones licensed by the Manitoba Gambling Commission, which have to pay a fee out of the rake of each game. Faderson and Orcullo admitted that they knew that the club owners were taking a small rake on each hand, but they did not feel they were doing anything wrong. The judge commented that "Not everyone in Manitoba likes that if you want to play legal Texas Hold'em you've got to go to the game where the rake is going to the (Manitoba Gambling) commission".
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