Home Poker Games Rejected By South Carolina

South Carolina has maintained its strict stance on gambling after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that poker games, even in private, are illegal. The case stems back to 2006, when five men were arrested in Charleston for organizing a poker game involving thousands of dollars in cash. At the time, at least two dozen people were booked for taking part in illegal gambling.
Despite the five organizers then being found guilty by a local judge, the men appealed the decision, with one of the defendants Bob Chimento, explaining:  “The reason we’re fighting the law is because we want to get our state representatives to change this law. We’re just a bunch of average Joes playing cards. We want to be able to play cards in our homes. They’re trying to intimidate people to quit playing poker.”
The men succeeded in their appeal and three years later the ruling was overturned by a circuit court judge. However, the six year battle has taken yet another twist after the Supreme Court has now once more ruled poker games as unlawful, regardless of whether poker is a game of luck or skill. The final ruling was a split decision, with one of the justices commenting:
“Whether an activity is gaming/gambling is not dependent upon the relative roles of chance and skill, but whether there is money or something of value wagered on the game’s outcome.”
South Carolina’s stringent gambling statute dates back to 1802, and currently only lotteries and charitable gambling is permitted in the Southeastern state. Although no land-based casinos are allowed in South Carolina, it does, however, have two casino boats which must first sail three miles into international waters before any gambling m,ay take place