Some history on "social" gambling in Arizona

[Nidociv]

Saw this posted by someone called "hpestes" in the Usenet group: rec.gambling.poker and thought it may interest some individuals here, especially with all the controversy regarding the resurgence of the "social" strip mall poker rooms that have appeared.

I'm cleaning out old files on my computer and came across this article from
back in the 80s.  If anyone remembers what was happening in Phoenix and
surrounding areas when they "legalized" social gambling, I thought you might
enjoy reading this old article.  Now that I think of it, I believe the very
first issue of CardPlayer ran an article about Phoenix Social Gambling.  The
article I quote below was from a local publication, I think put out by
Gambler's World, which was a store in Phoenix that sold gambling books and
poker tables, chips, cards, etc.  I remember the owner, I really liked him,
he was a colorful older man who was really fun to talk to.  He knew all the
scoop about what was going on in Phoenix.  He and his son ran the store.  I
think the son may have written this article.  It was a long time ago, and my
memory is a bit fuzzy.  Anyway, here is the article.  Enjoy.
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     History Of Arizona's Social Gambling

          It all started back in August 1987 when the State Legislature
updated the Arizona gambling statutes. Along with adding felony penalties to
the gambling laws, they added a "social gambling" exemption. The intention
was to allow friends to play poker and bet between themselves on sporting
events, but it took only a few months for the idea to catch on in the bars
that open gambling was now okay. At first only poker was played, and
supposably the players supplied all of the equipment and the bar had nothing
to do with the games. Next blackjack began to appear, wherein the deal could
rotate to a player if he  got a "twenty-one", thus making the game  "equal
terms" as  required by the law.  The   gambling stayed on a relatively small
scale for the first year, with only about twenty bars allowing it and this
was mostly in the Phoenix area.

             In August 1988 Tommy's Full House opened and this caused a
revolution in the social gambling.  The first unique thing that he did was
to advertise the gambling at his bar. His bar also

became the largest at the time with 13 blackjack tables, 6 poker tables, 2
hold'em poker tables, a

14 foot craps table, and a 20 foot double roulette table. In August 1988
Tommy Cassella, owner of the Full House, was charged by the Arizona Attorney
General with attempting to benefit from gambling, a class 2 misdemeanor. The
case was heard in Justice Court and the judge ruled in October 1988 that the
law was unconstitutionally vague and dismissed the charges. This caused an
explosion of gambling throughout the bars now that a court, albeit only a
Justice Court, had essentially stated that the gambling activity was all
right.

        In the Spring of 1989 the State Legislature, at the request of the
Attorney General's Office, tried to change the "social gambling" definitions
to get the gambling out of the bars. Because of disagreements between the
House and the Senate, the bill finally died after almost passing several
times in several different forms.

     Until the Summer of 1989 it was mainly Phoenix area bars that were
offering the gambling, but soon Tucson and the rest of the state started to
get into the act of having  "social gambling". The Attorney General's
Office made another attempt to stop the barroom gambling    by filing public
nuisance suits    against six Phoenix area bars in July and August of 1989.
The results of the cases were as follows:

       The bars Pool & Brew and McWade's agreed to stop the  "social
gambling" in their establishments in order to avoid the state's suit.

  In the Tommy's Full House case, Judge Stover ruled against    the Full
House and issued an injunction that prohibited the gambling activity on the
grounds that the gambling was illegal and did not fall within the "social
gambling" exemption.

       In the Lester's Lounge case, Judge Pro Ten Joel Thompson ruled that
the craps and roulette were illegal, but that poker and twenty-one were
probably allowable.

       In the Sweetwater Inn and Tong's Bar case, Judge O'Melia  ruled that
the "social gambling" statute was unconstitutionally broad and vague and
that it was up to the State Legislature to    address the "social gambling"
issue.

       As can be seen from these mixed and varied rulings, the    whole
question of what was legal or illegal was totally up in the air. The "social
gambling industry" continued to grow at an    amazing rate so that by the
Spring of 1990 there were estimated to be approximately 250 bars in Arizona
conducting "social    gambling" and the dollar amounts involved were not
small.  The Phoenix Police Department estimated that in 1988 there was 547.5
million dollars wagered in the Phoenix bars offering "social gambling"!!!

       This all lead up to the show down of the ''social gambling" bars
versus the Attorney General's Office, the Dog and Horse Racing Lobbyists,
and Liquor Control in lobbying the State Legislature in the Spring of 1990.
This time the bars lost and on May 3, 1990 a new "social gambling" law
become effective and most of the barroom gambling shut down immediately. A
few bars decided to continue to offer the "social gambling" by creating
adjoining "Social Clubs", but on June 1, 1990 Lester's Lounge and the
adjacent Lily Pad Social Club were raided by police and closed, along with
Jerry Roper the owner of the establishment being arrested.

       On August 31, 1990 the Cliff Manor Inn near Tucson was raided by
various law enforcement agencies and several people were arrested along with
various gambling equipment being seized.

    On September 15, 1990 the 16th Street Social Club was raided by Phoenix
Police and Department of Public Safety Officers. Arrested was owner Fook Hoi
"Steve" Tong and approximately a dozen patrons on gambling and related
charges. In a related raid at his south Phoenix home, Samuel J. Jeffcoat
was  arrested by police for helping to run the gambling operations at Tong's
club.

       On September 21, 1990 police raided a house located in Paradise
Valley and arrested seven people on gambling charges including the people
dealing the games of 4-5-6 and blackjack.  Police also stated that the cards
used at the blackjack table were marked and many patrons noted heavy losses
at that game.

      In the latest raids, it seems that the law enforcement community is
taking the stance that they are not going to tolerate the creation of
superficial "social clubs" to circumvent the law. So as a player, you are
taking a "gamble" with a possible criminal record if you play at these
social gambling clubs.

       It will now be up to the courts to decide again what is permissible
under the new "social gambling" law. In the meantime gambling is still at an
all time high in Arizona with much of the old bar room gambling going
underground and into private homes. There are two significant differences
with the current gambling situation compared to three 'years ago before
"social gambling" became legal. First, the players now know each other and
have a network that did not exist three years ago.  Second, there are many
out of state gamblers that have moved to Arizona and will stay here as long
as it remains profitable.


and so the appearance / tolerance /shutdown of these rooms seems a bit cyclical, it remains to be seen what, if anything the State does about all these new poker rooms in the currrent "climate".