FROM THE ANB:
A few months ago, Christy Martin started letting the Ultimate Poker League hold poker nights at her club, the Ice House of Bentonville.
The club does not charge people to play, but Martin said poker has been a moneymaker for her business in other ways.
When players are away from the poker table, “they’ll play pool, they’ll eat food,” Martin said. “It brings people in.”
Poker, especially the Texas hold ‘em version featured on ESPN’s “World Series of Poker,” has experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity, and entertainment businesses are cashing in. Midland Bowl in Fort Smith, Billy’s Blues Club in Fayetteville and Zack’s Place in Little Rock are among dozens of Arkansas businesses that lure customers in the door by hosting poker games.
“Pretty much every club here (in Bentonville) has it,” Martin said.
The businesses say they are able to host the games legally, despite Arkansas’ anti-gambling laws and constitutional ban on lotteries, because customers are not really gambling – they pay nothing to play and no betting is allowed.
“We don’t take any money at all. It’s totally free,” said Cindy Carter, a manager at Fox and Hound English Pub & Grille in North Little Rock.
The National Poker Challenge has made similar claims about its poker club in Little Rock, but the club’s future is uncertain following a Nov. 18 raid by Little Rock police.
“The fact that we are most proud of is that it is non-gambling, not a lottery and that no customer ever has a chance to risk money,” the Memphis-based company said in a statement posted on its Web site, explaining how it could operate in Arkansas.
Local authorities see things differently. Four people who worked at the club now face felony charges of maintaining a gambling house.
