Police burst into an illegal poker game

After an anonymous phone call, the officers approach a raid on a pub. Five out of eight gamblers are convicted, one of them scars past the prison.

Anyone who plays at the machine in a pub can lose a lot of money. Anyone who participates in a poker round in the same pub can also put a lot of money in the sand. The difference: Card games like poker for money are forbidden in contrast to the state-licensed serving of a “one-armed bandit”. It concerns illegal and thus punishable gambling. The fine, but at the end important difference provides again and again for discussions, if the police bursts unexpectedly in the middle into a Pokerrunde, so happen in October 2017 in a small restaurant in the Wertachviertel. An anonymous caller had made the officials aware of the illegal “gambling cave”.

When that evening many stripes suddenly entered the pub, eight gamblers were sitting at the card table. With the command “Stay seated, put your hands on the table”, the officers made sure that none of the lucky knights could make cards or chips disappear. This measure is called “freezing the situation” in police jargon. Then an official photographed the round, game chips worth several hundred euros and cards were confiscated. One of the eight gamblers was able to disappear undetected during the recording. The other seven named Kartlers were charged with illegal gambling.

The landlord had to pay 6000 euro

In the first trial in November 2018, District Judge Roland Fink sentenced the host as the organiser to a fine of 6000 euros, two other players 450 and 600 euros. A fourth defendant is still fleeing today. The three remaining poker friends had to answer now in the second attempt before the court. The fact that the police appeared on the scene was particularly regrettable for a 38-year-old. He had already piled up chips for 764 Euros, so he had won considerably. The money had gone. A 65-year-old (defender: Ulrich Swoboda) with high private debts was less fortunate. He also had to fear for his freedom, as his criminal record already contained eleven entries. The third in the group, 46, stated that he had only watched.

The police had not found any chips at his place during the raid. The police officer in charge at the time, 48, now reports on the witness stand that the pub had been the target of a check months before and that there had again been discussions as to why one was allowed to play at slot machines, but poker was forbidden. The host as the organiser of the round had complained that he could close his shop without playing poker.

Why is poker forbidden?

Judge Roland Fink finally follows the motion of prosecutor Stephen Soßna. The 38-year-old, who had already lost his profit, has to pay a fine of 900 euros (30 daily rates of 30 euros each), the multiple convicted gambler, 54, is lucky in misfortune, so to speak, scratches the prison by a hair’s breadth and gets away with a fine of 2250 euros (90 daily rates of 25 euros each). The third defendant, who only watched, is acquitted. Playing poker with money employment is now times forbidden gambling, justifies the court. And the danger exists that “house and yard are gambled away” and players slipped into crime.