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| Home Poker the New Gambling Trend Home poker is the latest trend in the gambling world. Spurred by such events at the now- televised World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tournament, and by the recent spate of celebrity endorsements of poker and other gambling websites, more people than ever are hosting poker games for friends and family in their living rooms and basements. Many of these home gambling games are friendly, with the homeowner taking either no rake, or portion of each pot, or a very small amount to cover the cost of sodas and potato chips. The legality of these home gambling games depends very much on the state, with much stiffer penalties in almost all cases meted out to people who draw a commission from the home gambling games. For example, in Virginia, someone who is caught gambling is open to being charged with a misdemeanor. However, if the person running the game takes a cut of the profits, the person is considered to be running an illegal gambling operation, which is a felony. In Washington, D.C., private games are not considered to be illegal. In Maryland, in contrast, both gambling and running an illegal gambling operation are misdemeanors. However, police officials in Montgomery County say that they have better things to do than to target “friendly” games in which there is no house rake. "If it's a bunch of neighborhood guys who get together on Friday night, and they all chip in $15 to buy beer and pizza, and their wives are in the next room playing Bunko, that's something we don't investigate," said Detective Michael Herbert of the Montgomery vice section. Instead, the police focus their efforts on those that make a commission off illegal gambling: "What we're looking for is when someone is profiting. We figure, on average, these guys make $2,000 to $3,000 a night for every night they run a game." Police across the county say that they are receiving more calls from private citizens that tip them off to home gambling games than ever before. Many of the callers are friends or relatives of a player, concerned about a gambling addiction. Others are neighbors bothered by the noise or parking congestion. To add to the danger of a police raid, those who host poker tournaments or other gambling games at home must contend with a relatively new threat: the danger of armed robbers breaking in on a game. Since there is bound to be a large store of ready cash at home gambling games, in addition to little or no security or perception of danger, home poker games are the new favorite target of robbers looking for easy money. "It can be a situation for a very volatile event to occur," said Lt. Rich Perez, a Fairfax County police spokesman. "Throw in there just one person wanting to capitalize on the money, and you are going to end up with a robbery or shooting or something. Those are the things we try to prevent.
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