Home / Poker News February 2013 / The Poker Grapevine – Maine to Legalize Charity Poker?
The Poker Grapevine – Maine to Legalize Charity Poker?
Posted by: Jo Martin - Tue, 2013-02-19 04:49
The cause of
legal poker may catch an unexpected break in the state of Maine tomorrow February 20, 2013. State legislatures will apparently convene to discuss a bill aimed at making it legal for nonprofit organizations to hire third parties in order to host and direct poker tournaments aimed at raising charity funds. While the potential impact of the bill is nowhere near in significance to the legal initiatives currently mulled by the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it may still turn out to be a step in the right direction. The Portland Press Herald brought up the story of a Maine dad in an apparent effort to throw its support behind the initiative. Mike Mullet has for years taken advantage of various charity avenues to raise money for his children's sports teams, and eventually he began organizing poker tournaments to meet his donation goals. The very first charity poker tournament that he organized took place in 2009 and it ended up generating $1,000 in charity money. Since then - spurred on by his initial success - he held 18 more such events, all licensed by the state, which ended up generating a total of $12,000. Quite a number of people have signed up with him, expressing their interest in similar events in the future.
According to Maine law, Mullet was indeed authorized to organize the said events, but he could not legally help other nonprofit organizations raise money in a similar manner. The bill which will be discussed tomorrow, would allow people like Mullet to help out other nonprofit organizations through the directing of charity poker tournaments. If the bill is passed, Mullet intends to organize poker events for other organizations and to teach them how to setup and organize such events in the future for themselves.
