poker playing
Many Concerned Over Legalization Of Poker Games In Pubs
On the latest move of liberalization of gaming and drinking laws from the Labour party, pubs will now be permitted to hold poker games that involve money.
The existing law prohibiting games of chance involving money in pubs and bars will be lifted 2007, as confirmed by Whitehall.
While the new regulations carry with it provisions on the amount that can be wagered, many are skeptical that these limitations will be observed.
Moreover, the introduction of pub poker alarms many to the possibility that criminals may exploit the legality of gambling in bars.
"I don't see how a pub is going to monitor the tables. I cannot see how this can be policed," said Professor Mark Griffiths, a gambling expert at Nottingham Trent University.
"Poker is very different from the dominos and cribbage that have been played in the past. This is a game that is glamorous, and where high stakes games are seen on television. Pub games will be dangerous for people who a susceptible to addiction," he added.
"This is being done to an unsuspecting public," Psychologist Professor Jim Orford of Birmingham University.
"The results of this new liberalization are highly unpredictable. There are many people - more than ministers think - who do not approve of the extension of gambling and who understand that it can be dangerous."
Orford voiced out a concern that the loosening of restrictions on gambling, whether online or live, may spark a growth in the number of gambling addicts.
Professor Orford warned last week that the removal of restrictions on internet poker and gambling next year is likely to produce millions of gambling addicts.