You got to know when to hold em’
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office wants more than $40,000 from the Seward VFC in Westmoreland County that the company earned from Texas Hold ’em fund raisers.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Robert Stewart says the games constitute illegal gambling.
Here are excerpts from an article on IndianaGazette.com:
An attorney representing the Seward Volunteer Fire Company emphasized that no members of the small fire department in Westmoreland County have been charged with any crime in connection with Texas Hold-em poker tournaments held at the company’s fire hall last year.
And an attorney representing the tournament organizer who is accused of illegally sponsoring card games for profit argued today that the state has never clearly defined what illegal gambling is, and has never stated clearly whether playing cards for money is illegal.
Greensburg attorney Jeffrey Monzo said members of the Seward fire department have cooperated fully with an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, which is seeking more than $40,000 given to the fire department following the popular poker tournaments in 2007.
Monzo said the poker tournaments were not fire department-sponsored fundraisers. Instead, he said, the money was given to the fire department as “rental donations” for the use of the fire hall by the tournament organizer.
Monzo also said the fire department members did not believe the tournaments were illegal, and they would not have allowed their fire hall to be used for the tournaments if they had.
