Poker News

Jonathan Raab

At present, poker in the UK is governed by the Gaming Board, which enforces the 1961 Gaming Act. Under this act poker is classified as a combined game of skill and chance and casinos that operate poker games are required to run them in a particular way. One such rule is that all competitors in a poker tournament must be on the premiseswhen the event starts. Players are therefore not allowed to play if they arrive late and there are no alternates permitted. Casinos are not allowed to rake cash games, but they can charge hourly fees. The size of the fee that can be charged for a tournament is also capped at 10 percent of the buy in, to a maximum of ?50. However, casinos have recently found a loophole that enables them to effectively charge more for tournament entry - by calling it a session charge rather than a registration fee. Some casinos have started to do this for low stakes tournaments that were previously uneconomical to run under the 10 percent regime.

These restrictions, while keeping games cheap and cheerful for players, means that poker rooms can not be run profitably within UK casinos. Most of the casinos that do have poker rooms treat them as loss leaders for their table games and consequently do not invest in the best facilities or furnishings. Some players complain that they are treated like second class citizens in poker rooms when compared to players in the pit.

But in September the Gaming Board is being replaced by the Gaming Commission and many of the old rules will go out of the window. Rather than hard and fast rules about exactly how games must be run, the commission will issue a set of guidelines. This will enable casinos to be a lot more flexible in the way they run their poker rooms. Players will no longer be required to be there at the start of the tournament. Alternate lists will be allowed. Cash games can be raked. Players will be able to tip dealers. Yes, even now, tipping dealers in UK casinos is illegal.

With poker set to become more profitable for operators, the result should be more poker rooms with better facilities, but whether this actually materializes remains to be seen. The Grosvenor Victoria casino in London is already the busiest room in the UK with up to a dozen cash games going on at any time and regular tournaments taking place too. It is gearing up to take full advantage of the new regime. The casino is currently being refurbished and by the time this is completed later this summer, the entire top floor of the casino will be devoted to poker. The room will house up to 25 tables with separate cash game and tournament areas.

What remains to be seen is just how far casinos go under the new regime. While raking cash games is going to be allowed, it will not be favoured by most of the players. Two other London casinos with poker rooms - The Sportsman and Palm Beach - have already announced that they will not rake pots come September. Grosvenor is yet to make a decision one way or another and although shareholders are rubbing their hands together at the prospect of higher revenues via rake, staff at the Victoria Casino in particular are worried about whether players will still flock to their newly extended room if games start to be raked.

Filed under: Poker News