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Copyright © 2007 Dayton Daily News
HEADLINE: Poker tourney set despite past controversy
Body:
A four-day Texas
Hold 'Em tournament organized by Reece's Las Vegas Supplies
begins today at the Dayton Convention Center eight months after
the Ohio Attorney General's office blocked the Riverside firm
from conducting a similar charity poker tournament there last
March.
Then-Attorney General Jim Petro alleged in court at the time
that Reece's owners had skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars
from charities over a two-year period by organizing poker
tournaments around the state.
But Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker ruled
in June that the state had failed to "show, by clear and
convincing evidence, that the defendants received compensation
for operating gambling events for charities."
Reece's is owned by Reece and Janice Powers of Harrison Twp.
Reece Powers was sentenced in 2003 to 33 months in prison for
running gambling businesses. The couple declined comment Wednesday
through a receptionist taking registration calls for the tournament.
Ohio law says that all proceeds from gambling, except those used
to pay for prizes, must go to the sponsoring charity and that
only unpaid volunteers can operate the event.
Monica Moloney, acting chief of the charitable law section of
Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's office, said the case against
Reece's is still open and that an appeal of Tucker's decision
will be filed by her office "very soon."
Moloney said state legislators never intended for the charitable
gaming laws to create large for-profit operations. Instead, she
said, "the idea was to provide for gaming exceptions for
charitable organizations to benefit those organizations. When
(legislators) were looking at these things (25 years ago), it
was the type of games held at summer church festivals, not these
huge poker tournaments."
Tucker said in his June ruling that "Mr. Powers does not
dispute that he made 'good money' from these (poker) events, and
even argues that he would be out of business if he could not do
business with charities."
But whether Powers and his firm received direct compensation
for operating those events "is, admittedly, a close call,"
Tucker wrote.
Reece's Las Vegas charges rental fees to charities for a package
of services that includes gaming tables and supplies, registration
handling, card dealers and advertising. Tucker ruled that reasonable
people could argue that Reece's is being paid for its "expertise"
in organizing and operating tournaments
but not for actually running them.
The poker
tournament this weekend and next at the Dayton Convention
Center is being held on behalf of the Central Ohio Amateur Baseball
Federation, a nonprofit organization based in Gahanna.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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