Oregon law enforcement has closed the largest poker room in the state as part of a battle between the Oregon Lottery and local municipalities that license poker rooms, such as Portland Meadows, over whether the track can legally offer live poker.
In May the Lottery revoked the track’s ability to offer any lottery products, which means it can’t offer video lottery terminals (VLTs.) That flies in the face of a license that the city of Portland gave the racetrack to offer live poker. It has licensed several card clubs, which the state maintains is illegal.
The Lottery has tried to get the legislature to specifically ban poker rooms, so far without success. They continue to operate, although at least in the case of Portland Meadows, the state has shut down the VLTs that share the space.
Portland Meadows is kind of a special case since most poker rooms don’t also have VLTs. It added poker to its existing VLTs. That gave the Lottery an excuse to act. It worked with the Oregon State Police to send in undercover agents. They discovered that the Meadows was charging an admission fee, which the state is able to say is a form of “rake” and track employees were serving as the bank. Both are illegal.
According to the Lottery “The door fee described [constitutes ‘house income’. As a result, the on-site poker games constitute illegal gambling, resulting in violations… if ORI [Oregon Racing, Inc., the parent company of Portland Meadows] was leasing the premises to a party conducting the games, or if ORI itself was promoting or profiting from the games. The contract of a retailer engaging in such conduct is subject to termination.”
If the closure sticks, Portland Meadows will lose $350,000 annually from the commissions on lottery ticket sales. The state is likely to stick to its guns that the racetrack cannot both offer poker and lottery terminals.
