AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: Dealing with antiquated poker laws
DATE: 4:41 AM
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BODY:
Seventy-nine-year-old Amelia &quot;Midge&quot; Cheseborough thought it was a joke when<br>police raided a home poker game, seized her $20 in chips and handcuffed her.<br>It wasn&#39;t. A 200-year-old law in South Carolina bans any game with cards or<br>dice. So state Rep. Wallace Scarborough has introduced a measure that would<br>make playing poker -- and Monopoly -- legal as long as the house does not<br>take a cut. Arrests involving poker games in South Carolina are infrequent,<br>but when the Charleston lawmaker heard about the poker raid on the radio, he<br>thought it was ridiculous and decided to introduce the proposal. &quot;This would<br>allow a friendly game of cards,&quot; said Scarborough, who has played in a<br>charity poker tournament in Charleston. Last April, police raided a poker<br>game in Mount Pleasant advertised on a Web site. Authorities handed out<br>citations and seized nearly $6,000 in cash. Cheseborough said she lost her<br>chips and $85 from her purse when police charged into the home. At first,<br>she thought it was a joke. &quot;Then we realized it was real when we saw guns,&quot;<br>the Charleston resident said. She said she thinks the officer felt guilty<br>because he put the handcuffs on loosely, and she said she could have slipped<br>out if she wanted. Cheseborough was among 18 people who asked for a jury<br>trial to challenge the state&#39;s law. But in January, she decided to plead<br>guilty and ended up paying $50 in court fees. Fourteen of the 22 arrested at<br>the raid are headed to trial, according to town officials. Michael Bolcerek,<br>president of the California-based Poker Players Alliance, said laws<br>governing poker vary widely, even among municipalities. His group supports<br>any proposal updating antiquated gambling laws, he said. &quot;We&#39;re very excited<br>this is happening,&quot; he said. &quot;It&#39;s about time there was sanity in<br>legislation addressing people playing at home enjoying a nice game of<br>poker.&quot; Cheseborough applauds the new legislation and admits she&#39;s played<br>poker since her arrest.
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