If on the one hand the Guardia di Finanza closes a poker room in the province of Pordenone, as we wrote last April 19, on the other hand the release from seizure ordered by the judiciary of another poker room near Varese leaves us perplexed and makes us understand how much confusion there is still with the authorities when it comes to live poker. However, this sentence, together with others already issued in the past in favor of sports poker, creates precedents that can no longer be ignored.
The specific case concerns the Lucky Club gaming hall in Gallarate, previously closed and now released from seizure and acquitted for not having committed any burglary. It was last March 11 when during a poker tournament with a 20 euro buy-in, with the possibility of a 15 euro re-buy, the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza broke into the poker room. It was precisely the rebuy formula that caused the club to close. In fact, the law recognizes sports poker, i.e. that of tournaments where you pay a fixed fee to participate and nothing more, but does not allow the possibility of buying back the chips (the re-buy) once they are finished.
Nonetheless, the review court of Varese issued a sentence for the release of the poker room in question. This is because the judges recognized the "sports dimension of the game" being the hall affiliated to CONI and making use of a national ranking of players on which the tournaments played were going to influence. Furthermore, the accusation of "profit" was not sustainable since the first prize was only 96 euros, and neither was the "gambling" accusation since the Texas Hold'em poker considered a game of skill where luck plays only a very marginal role.
Surely the fact that the club was affiliated to the Italian Sports Centers Association, a corporation recognized by CONI, which gives the right value to sports poker, too often confused with video poker, has a great influence on the acquittal side. or, more generally, with gambling and gambling addictions. A favorable ruling that bodes well for the future of live poker in Italy.
