The Ramada Inn in Guelph near the university ran regular tournaments followed by cash games, earlier tonight it was raided by the police, the players and game organizers were arrested.
Is the amount of raids in the last two months part of some new task force? Or do you think it has to do with the WPT coming at the end of the month and the Police are trying to make a good impression (with the casino's leaning on them)?
Or do you think it has to do with the WPT coming at the end of the month and the Police are trying to make a good impression (with the casino's leaning on them)?
I have heard wild speculation for all the raids ranging from:
- the club must be doing something really bad aside from poker
- the Hell's Angels are involved
- there must have been guns and drug transactions inside the club
- getting rid of the clubs to make way for a new casino at Woodbine
- the OLG and the casinos are telling the police to get rid of their competition
- former club employees are taking down all the clubs
- it's because of the upcoming Ontario election and the raids will stop after the election.
IMHO, all of the above are false and it's just old-fashioned enforcement of the Criminal Code. The Illegal Gambling Unit probably already knew about many of the illegal poker clubs last year and they have recently finished their investigations and gotten around to executing the 26 or so arrest warrants.
what's the maximum sentence for being caught at an illegal gaming house?
Most often, nothing...just a warning most likely, and an education in the sins of gambling outside a licensed casino. It's the owner and/or employees that get fined and/or charged.
Correct me if i'm wrong but this is the first raid in recent times that players not just organizers have been arrested?
Also I found it interesting in the OPP news release it stated that "ending a five-month investigation" and later it said "The investigation is continuing"
well I got the following from the OPP's site, they're the ones who spearheaded the investigation
Illegal gambling is a foundation upon which most other illicit activities are supported. Illegal bookmaking, card dens and video gambling machines are a key source of revenue for organized crime. Illegal gambling and related crimes such as loan sharking, money laundering and corruption provides working capital to invest in more legitimate enterprises, thereby strengthening their illicit operation.
The Illegal Gambling Unit is dedicated to provide a quality multi-jurisdictional investigative and enforcement response to illegal gambling in Ontario with an emphasis on organized crime. The participation and partnerships of police agencies and the Ontario Racing Commission in the Illegal Gambling program has enabled the Unit to stay attuned to Ontario’s growing cultural and community ideologies.
So my opinion is that the Ramada games were somehow linked to organized crime and/or they were taking a rake, making the game illegal
those guys had nothing to do with orginized crime....it was their advertising that lead the police to them, and what they were doing was illegal. it's as simple as that.
and rake free games are legal.
I've played at a bunch of clubs. Never noticed 'organized crime'. Definitely some questionable lending practices and possibly some illicit drug sales...
Law enforcement will always use the "organized crime" link whenever they want to appeal to the general public. Gives them credence somehow that what they're doing is looking out for everyone.
Hamilton Mountain Bowl was running rake-free tournaments and SNGs, but after they got a warning from the police, there is no more poker there.
An inspector has been going around the bars that have gambling-free fun tournaments and claimed that they will lose their liquor license if they have any kind of card game, so you can't even play a FREE poker game anymore!
The poker raid in Waterloo is mentioned in a poker magazine. It states that the police received complaints from two players who felt they were getting ripped off by the two young men running the poker game. OPP Seargeant Bill Sword claims, "The small operations [such as this] without exaggeration are making up to about a quarter of a million per table per year." Having done many rake analyses myself, it IS an exaggeration unless that single table is running full 32 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.
See also http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/myweb.php?hls=10034&news_id=1081. Sword said that there were also tips from “concerned persons who became aware of it, also Crime Stopper tips, and just through our own proactive policing through informants.” The court date for the 9 people charged is supposed to be today.
Comments
Mark
Or do you think it has to do with the WPT coming at the end of the month and the Police are trying to make a good impression (with the casino's leaning on them)?
http://www.570news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20071018_072456_4884
"and Waterloo" - anybody know what this one was?
http://guelph.ca/cityhall.cfm?itemid=68319&smocid=1613#We%20would%20like%20to%20open%20a%20Poker%20Parlour/Poker%20Hall%20or%20have%20a%20Poker%20night
According to the address given in the other article it was the Chesterfield.
- the club must be doing something really bad aside from poker
- the Hell's Angels are involved
- there must have been guns and drug transactions inside the club
- getting rid of the clubs to make way for a new casino at Woodbine
- the OLG and the casinos are telling the police to get rid of their competition
- former club employees are taking down all the clubs
- it's because of the upcoming Ontario election and the raids will stop after the election.
IMHO, all of the above are false and it's just old-fashioned enforcement of the Criminal Code. The Illegal Gambling Unit probably already knew about many of the illegal poker clubs last year and they have recently finished their investigations and gotten around to executing the 26 or so arrest warrants.
/g2
Most often, nothing...just a warning most likely, and an education in the sins of gambling outside a licensed casino. It's the owner and/or employees that get fined and/or charged.
Also I found it interesting in the OPP news release it stated that "ending a five-month investigation" and later it said "The investigation is continuing"
lol
You're right..
In this area yes. I believe the raid that they did last month in Ottawa also resulted in the players being arrested too.
Illegal gambling is a foundation upon which most other illicit activities are supported. Illegal bookmaking, card dens and video gambling machines are a key source of revenue for organized crime. Illegal gambling and related crimes such as loan sharking, money laundering and corruption provides working capital to invest in more legitimate enterprises, thereby strengthening their illicit operation.
The Illegal Gambling Unit is dedicated to provide a quality multi-jurisdictional investigative and enforcement response to illegal gambling in Ontario with an emphasis on organized crime. The participation and partnerships of police agencies and the Ontario Racing Commission in the Illegal Gambling program has enabled the Unit to stay attuned to Ontario’s growing cultural and community ideologies.
So my opinion is that the Ramada games were somehow linked to organized crime and/or they were taking a rake, making the game illegal
So have there been any little places without rakes that certainly would have nothing to do with organized crime hit yet?
and rake free games are legal.
So obviously these guys were taking a rake of some sort...that'll teach em I guess
An inspector has been going around the bars that have gambling-free fun tournaments and claimed that they will lose their liquor license if they have any kind of card game, so you can't even play a FREE poker game anymore!
See also http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/myweb.php?hls=10034&news_id=1081. Sword said that there were also tips from “concerned persons who became aware of it, also Crime Stopper tips, and just through our own proactive policing through informants.” The court date for the 9 people charged is supposed to be today.