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CHARLESTON, S.C. --
South Carolina's attorney general wants the state's highest court to overrule a lower court's decision and determine that the poker game Texas Hold 'em is illegal in the state, a newspaper reported Thursday.
In an appeal filed with the state Supreme Court this week, Attorney General Henry McMaster says Circuit Judge Markley Dennis went too far this fall when he overturned the gambling convictions of five Mount Pleasant card players arrested in a 2006 raid, ruling that the poker game Texas Hold 'em is a game of skill, not chance, according to The Post and Courier of Charleston.
Dennis' ruling also said playing Texas Hold 'em in a private home does not violate the state's antigambling laws, some of which he said are vague.
Read literally, a 1802 South Carolina law makes any game with cards or dice - including popular board games like Monopoly and Sorry - illegal. McMaster has said his office interprets that law more loosely, only considering games more reliant on chance than on a player's skill - including Texas Hold 'em - to be gambling and therefore illegal.
But McMaster's appeal says he doesn't think whether there is skill or just chance involved has anything to do with lawmakers' attempt to ban gambling.
"One obvious reason that 'chance' need not be determined with respect to a particular game for purpose of the gambling statute is that the Legislature sought to ban all 'gaming' for stakes at designated locations," he wrote.
Lawmakers are expected to take up a bill legalizing friendly poker games and charity raffles during their next session, which begins in January.
SC attorney general appeals poker ruling | Lake Wylie Pilot - Lake Wylie, SC
South Carolina's attorney general wants the state's highest court to overrule a lower court's decision and determine that the poker game Texas Hold 'em is illegal in the state, a newspaper reported Thursday.
In an appeal filed with the state Supreme Court this week, Attorney General Henry McMaster says Circuit Judge Markley Dennis went too far this fall when he overturned the gambling convictions of five Mount Pleasant card players arrested in a 2006 raid, ruling that the poker game Texas Hold 'em is a game of skill, not chance, according to The Post and Courier of Charleston.
Dennis' ruling also said playing Texas Hold 'em in a private home does not violate the state's antigambling laws, some of which he said are vague.
Read literally, a 1802 South Carolina law makes any game with cards or dice - including popular board games like Monopoly and Sorry - illegal. McMaster has said his office interprets that law more loosely, only considering games more reliant on chance than on a player's skill - including Texas Hold 'em - to be gambling and therefore illegal.
But McMaster's appeal says he doesn't think whether there is skill or just chance involved has anything to do with lawmakers' attempt to ban gambling.
"One obvious reason that 'chance' need not be determined with respect to a particular game for purpose of the gambling statute is that the Legislature sought to ban all 'gaming' for stakes at designated locations," he wrote.
Lawmakers are expected to take up a bill legalizing friendly poker games and charity raffles during their next session, which begins in January.
SC attorney general appeals poker ruling | Lake Wylie Pilot - Lake Wylie, SC