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GREENSBORO -- When it comes to public poker tournaments in Guilford County, you might say the dealin's done.
A highly publicized bust of a poker tournament at a Greensboro restaurant last spring essentially put an end to promoting the events here, law enforcement officials say.
But the company that organized the tournament hasn't folded. Charlotte-based 5th Street Entertainment filed a lawsuit in Guilford County Superior Court in November asking a judge to clarify that its tournaments are legal.
The company claims that the events don't violate the law because players don't bet anything of personal value and it is free to play. Instead, participants compete for a chance to enter a championship game and earn a grand-prize trip to Las Vegas. North Carolina's gambling statute prohibits operating games of chance if anything of value is bet.
"These types of tournaments are going on nationally," 5th Street attorney William Bunting said Friday. "For the most part, there aren't a lot of questions about it."
But state officials maintain that the company is merely trying to skirt the law by avoiding having the players pay to play.
On March 2, agents from the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement raided a Texas Hold 'em tournament operated by 5th Street at the Ham's Restaurant on High Point Road. Guilford District Attorney Stuart Albright later dropped charges against both entities after learning that a lawyer for the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission had given them permission to hold the tournament.
Also in March, officials with the Mecklenburg County ABC Board began informing venues that they could lose their liquor license if they hosted 5th Street's tournaments, according to the lawsuit.
The incidents caused 5th Street to lose business, dropping its tournaments from 50 to 29 per week in the state, the suit claims. To avoid prosecution, the company stopped the awarding of nightly prizes such as gift certificates, which caused a drop in attendance, the lawsuit said.
None of its tournaments have been held in Guilford County since the raid.
"People are playing for bragging rights now," Bunting said. "(5th Street) would eventually like to get back to awarding prizes."
The company originally filed suit in Mecklenburg County in June against state Attorney General Roy Cooper, Albright, the director of the ALE, the Mecklenburg County ABC Law Enforcement chief, and the state of North Carolina. But Superior Court Judge Robert P. Johnston dismissed the lawsuit Nov. 6. The court found that the company failed to state a claim that entitled it to a declaration that its business model is legal. The judge did not further specify his legal reasoning.
Bunting then filed a similar lawsuit Nov. 17 in Guilford County. He said the law changed in his client's favor when the N.C. Court of Appeals determined in September that a declaratory judgment was appropriate in a separate case involving gambling issues.
In a court filing responding to the suit, state Assistant Attorney General David Adinolfi argues that the lawsuit should be dismissed under the doctrine of res judicata. That means the issues have already been decided by another court between the same parties.
By Eric Collins |
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