The UK Gambling Commission has set out to ‘clamp down’ on illegal poker games by writing to police forces, local authorities and the licensing trade to highlight the new guidelines it has published. It is warning operators that a permit is needed to run poker games and such games cannot be used as an inducement for people to visit a pub.

The communication stressed the two most important messages associated with the new U.K. Gambling Act: that an establishment is prohibited from running poker games or tournaments without the appropriate permits, and that poker events cannot be used to attract customers to the establishment.

Gambling Commission director of operations, Phill Brear, said a majority of the games currently being run in the U.K. are illegal under the laws laid down by the Gambling Act. He also said that players are losing large amounts of money at poker games run by crooked operators.

The Gambling Commission hopes to raise awareness on the situation and help poker enthusiasts understand their rights. They are also urging players to compete only in poker games at establishments that are supervised and properly licensed under the new laws.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Land-Based Casino Poker, Online Poker, Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.