North Carolina Poker Tournament
According to North Carolina law, the only legal poker venues are those located on Tribal reservations. Online poker sites claim that, because they are licensed and legal in the jurisdictions where. North Carolina A&T Aggies vs North Carolina Central Eagles Odds - Wednesday February 24 2021. Live betting odds and lines, betting trends, against the spread and over/under trends, injury reports and matchup stats for bettors. North Carolina gambling laws are enforced with a strict eye towards organized gaming activity like slot machines, video poker, racing bets, and lotteries besides the official state lottery. North Carolina law enforcement also focuses on what are called 'Monta Carlo Nights', which is one of a half-dozen names these events have throughout the USA. North Carolina has a total of 20 poker tables spread across 1 poker rooms. You can play a number of poker games, including NL Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, NL Holdem, 7 Card Stud.
In a state with no poker rooms, only one Indian casino and which in the past couple of years only offered its citizens a state lottery, poker will be the featured attraction to raise money for two very deserving charitable organizations.
Chips For Charity, a non-profit organization based in Cary, NC, will be hosting their First Annual “All In For Youth” poker tournament at the Marriott at Research Triangle Park on January 10th at noon. The organization, founded in 2007, attempts to provide awareness, resources, and advocacy to local charities and their valuable purposes. They do this through a completely voluntary effort that features poker tournaments in the Triangle area.
Travis Kelley, the founder of the organization, pointed out how difficult it is for charitable causes to raise funds nowadays. “With the local and national economies, it is tough for them to raise money,” he told Poker News Daily. “The popularity of poker is a great way to raise awareness and donations for these groups. It is also a way for people to come together for good causes and play some cards at the same time.”
The tournament is limited to the first 300 people who register at the website of Chips For Charity. For a $75 buy in, the players will have a chance to battle for the top prize of two tickets to this year’s Super Bowl – which will be played in Tampa, FL – for the winner of the tournament. Three other contestants will also have an opportunity to win either a 2009 Cadillac CTS or $15,000 cash. Above all else, however, is the opportunity for two locally based charities to raise money for their causes.
The Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill provides families with the basic necessities and comforts of home so that they can focus on caring for a sick child. Many come from hundreds of miles away, seeking the best possible care for their child at local hospitals. Traveling back and forth from home or staying at an area hotel can take its toll on already pinched pocketbooks. The Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill provides for these families with thirty hotel-style guest rooms that offer patients, parents and siblings the chance to stay close during tough times.
Volunteers for Youth provides services to Orange County youth, helping them become contributing members of the community. Founded in 1981, it is an organization that assists high risk youths by matching them with adult volunteer sponsors that show them how to be valuable members of the city through various methods.
Kelley expects this to be the first of many charity poker tournaments to be held by Chips For Charity. “There’s quite a bit of planning and execution to these events to be able to make sure they are run flawlessly, but we want to do them as frequently as possible,” Kelley stated. “We want to try to help our community, help out families in need and as many charities as we can.”
The “All In For Youth” poker tournament will be a good chance to play poker for a good cause. There are only about fifty slots left in the 300 player event and you must enter online to be able to play. For more information about the tournament, Kelley’s organization or the charities that will benefit 100% from the proceeds of the event, visit the Chips For Charity website for more details.
North Carolina is one of the states where the issue of whether poker is to be understood as a game of chance or not is critical to whether it is to be deemed illegal or not. The law as it relates to gambling in North Carolina reads as follows:
“Section 14-492, Gambling: Except as provided in Chapter 18C of the General Statutes or in Part 2 of this Article, any person or organization that operates any game of chance or any person who plays at or bets on any game of chance at which any money, property or other thing of value is bet, whether the same be in stake or not, shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.” (1)
So betting on any game of chance for money is illegal in North Carolina, other than provisions in Chapter 18C which governs the North Carolina State Lottery, or in part 2 of this section, which concerns the allowance of gambling on tribal lands. (2). So in other words these are the only two exceptions permitted in the state to bet on games of chance.
Since the statute is silent as to how games of chance are to be defined, this has been left up to the courts to decide. There is an element of both skill and chance in the game of poker, and whether it is to be defined as a game of chance or not for the purposes of legal interpretation depends first on whether this addresses the preponderance of chance versus skill, which is widely open to debate, or whether any element of chance would suffice to fit this definition.
The North Carolina courts have thus far taken the latter definition, whereby if there is an element of chance at all in a game, it is a game of chance. In Joker Club v. Hardin, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that “since the instrumentality of victory is not entirely in a players’ hands” and that there must be “unavoidable uncertainty as to the results, chance predominates over skill in the game of poker.” (3)
Interestingly enough though, in the state’s compact with the Indians to allow gambling, one of the conditions is that the games offered include an element of skill, which includes poker. (4)
In any case, this addresses an exception to the law, although the law here is clearly too vague and poorly worded to properly set out the scope of this law, and we are left with being subject to fairly arbitrary decisions like this by the courts, but in the absence of clearer definitions, this is the only recourse.
So right now based upon the case law, poker is included in the law against gambling in North Carolina, which includes any form of poker playing not on an authorized venue on tribal lands, including home games played for money.
Live Poker In North Carolina
There is only one location in North Carolina where poker may be played legally, and that is at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, in Cherokee, NC. This casino is a joint venture between Harrah’s and the Indian tribe there, and is located on tribal land, and offers Class III gaming, including poker.
There are a total of 20 poker tables at this location, which is a rather large venue, sitting 21 stories tall and offering 1108 rooms. There is a pretty wide selection of casino games available as well. (5)
Online Poker In North Carolina
Given that playing poker for money is seen as being in violation of state law, this would extend to all poker playing, including playing poker online. There isn’t any reason to think that playing online poker in North Carolina would not consist of poker playing in North Carolina. You can’t really argue that since the game is hosted outside of the state, as is the case with online poker, the actual playing of the game did not occur in the state, since it is the playing of the game that is what is being declared illegal here.
This is what some people can get confused about, the venue may not be in the state but if playing is not legal in itself, and the bets also may be taken elsewhere, but here the law prohibits the act of playing such a game, and there is no question that the playing of the game occurs in North Carolina if you are playing it for money while physically located within the state.
This notwithstanding, authorities in North Carolina do not go after online poker players, as no state does at this time, so online poker players in North Carolina do not seem to be worried about any of this, nor does it appear that they need to be.
So if you do not wish to travel to the lone poker room in the state or visit poker rooms in other states, or play in home games, then online poker is actually the only option you have. Many North Carolina residents have come to take advantage of this option though, and if you wish to as well, there are several very good sites which are happy to allow you to do so.
Ignition Poker is one of these sites and comes highly recommended. Ignition Poker bought up the Bovada software and re-branded in 2016 – they have already proven to have a very good track record at providing high quality online poker to Americans, including North Carolina citizens. They offer a first deposit bonus of up to $1,000, as well as a FREE $5 casino chip to use in their online casino.
America’s Cardroom is another of our top recommended poker sites and they also accept North Carolina residents. Their first time bonus deposit is the same as Ignition’s, with traffic being slightly higher though, especially at the NL Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha tables.
North Carolina Poker Tournaments
References:
(1) North Carolina Statutes, 14-292.
(2) North Carolina Statutes, 14-292.2
(3) Court of Appeals of North Carolina, Joker Club v. Hardin
(4) North Carolina Legal Poker
(5) Harrah’s Cherokee
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Harrah's Cherokee Poker Schedule
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North Carolina Poker Tournament
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