A GUTSHOT is the term used in Texas hold ‘em poker to describe the acquisition of a straight — a good, potentially winning, hand — by means of a middle-ranked card. It is also the name of London’s most popular poker club, one which, since it opened in March 2004, has capitalised on the explosion of interest in poker and, specifically, the Texas hold ‘em version of the game. But the Gutshot Club is having troubled times. Criminal charges have been brought against the club’s chairman, Derek Kelly. Though the charges may clarify the law on poker Kelly could get a jail sentence.
The Gutshot, in the City, is a private club with 15,000 members. It was set up “by poker players, for poker players, for the love of poker”, Kelly says, and provides a forum where many newcomers to poker — introduced by the online boom — can test their skills in a live environment.
But Kelly, as chairman of the Gutshot Private Members’ Club, is being charged with the alleged contravention of sections 3 (1), 4 and 8 (1) of the Gaming Act 1968. The sections — in force pending full implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 — prohibit the activity of gaming in any circumstances where a charge, in money or money’s worth, is made for the gaming, or where a levy is made on either the stakes or the winnings.
Poker in the UK is big business — newspapers routinely carry full-page adverts for leading online poker sites, there have been much-touted public share offerings and it has become de rigueur for TV to broadcast poker tournaments. There are 300 poker websites worldwide and 350,000 people playing online every hour — a 100 per cent increase in the past year. Poker’s new acolytes are fuelled by a love of the game and dreams of emulating the likes of Joe Hachem, the World Series of Poker champion, who walked away from this summer’s Las Vegas showdown with $7.5million (£4.2 million).
But for all that poker is booming, in legal terms it is something of an imponderable. Kelly says as much himself: “When we set up the club, we didn’t want to be a smoky backroom operator. I contacted the police and the Gaming Board and told them what we were doing, before we’d even opened. We’ve operated for 18 months without complaint from anyone, and have always co-operated closely with the authorities. Our intention is to continue doing so. I think we’re being charged under laws from the 1960s that are no longer appropriate to the modern British gaming landscape.”
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Tony Singh, a sports and media consultant with Addleshaw Goddard, agrees that “the law is outdated in this area. It hasn’t caught up with the modern leisure society in which poker is an acceptable activity.” Singh has some harsh words for those who denigrate poker. “The mid-market press perennially cite so-called moral arguments against poker. They seem to dislike the fact that poker players can make money, seemingly without doing much. I’d question how different that, in itself, is from playing the stock market. Poker is a game of skill. The best players will, over time, always prevail, thanks to their greater skill and ability.”
Whether poker is a game of chance or skill is likely to be tested in the proceedings brought against Kelly, according to Julian Skeens, an expert in betting and gaming law with Jeffrey Green Russell. “Kelly’s defence may well be that poker is a game of skill and therefore not caught by the 1968 Act,” Skeens says. “This, though, is not an easy argument. The legislation expressly says that in determining whether a game is of chance or skill, the exercise of ‘ superlative’ skill shall be disregarded. But if the defence won on this point, poker could be played anywhere, as opposed to the places where it is currently legal, such as participants’ homes or in private members’ clubs.”
The Gutshot is a private members’ club, but the 1968 Act prohibits charges or levies on winnings, even in such clubs. A cornerstone in Kelly’s defence is likely to be the argument that the Gutshot profits are used for the benefit of its members. This, says Skeens, is “a question of fact for the court”.
Which court was to be decided by Highbury Magistrates’ Court last week, only for Kelly’s application for Crown Court trial to be adjourned. Kelly has entered a plea of not guilty and should know within the month whether 12 good men and true will decide his fate. Meanwhile, the poker boom will continue and the Gutshot is open for business.