Beware - Those Dingy Late Night Clubs

Author: Simon Dexter

It’s 11pm and there you are, enjoying a quiet game of poker with some pals at a dingy downtown club you happen to know is open ‘til late. There’s not much table action and you’re contemplating ordering another beer when suddenly, there’s an almighty BOOM as the front door flies off its hinges and what looks like a well-armed private army pours in through the resulting dust, plaster and splintered door pieces.

You flap your arms in an effort to see through the dust, but are now face-to-face with sixty armed police officers who appear not to have arrived on the scene intent on rushing to the bar to buy you that beer.

Instead, you and your pals, together with everyone else, are placed under arrest, charged with being found in a gaming house and ordered to appear in court on 20th December. Meanwhile, the officers are busy confiscating everything they can find, from poker tables, cards, chips, as well as an undisclosed quantity of cash. Wasn’t some of that yours?

So in which banana republic do you think this unwelcome intrusion occurred? Actually, none of them, for last Thursday’s raid took place in Toronto, Canada. You see, private games are considered illegal in Ontario if the house charges a fee or rake and the Thornhill Social Club, that dingy club you had happened upon during your last visit, was suspected of doing so.

If that were not bad enough, one of the detectives involved in planning the raid was subsequently quoted as saying that Texas Hold’em is an “epidemic”, blaming televised poker for the game’s increased popularity and for a rise in illegal games across Ontario.

It’s worth clocking this, just in case you’re planning a trip to Canada anytime soon…