U.S. Supreme Court Doesn’t Give Appeal Chance to DiCristina Poker Case

The U.S. Supreme Court took the decision to reject the appeal of Lawrence DiCristina who was convicted of operating an illegal gambling business.

He was found guilty of popularizing a poker game in a New York warehouse. The business had 5% rake and number of employees, for example dealers.

There were people who were afraid that the case would inspire more broad application of the federal law, but the government assured that the case doesn’t mean that home games are criminal.

Thus, DiCristina made it into the gambling news, because his case was considered large-scale, due to the fact that he was earning more than $2,000 every day.

Is poker a skill game?

This case also raised again the debate whether poker is a skill game, but this was not the primarily focus of the trial. What was important in DiCristina’s case was to know whether poker can be considered gambling. If it wasn’t, the government’s case wouldn’t work.

However, it was determined that due to the fact that the state of New York considers poker as gambling, the federal law would be applicable.

DiCristina was primarily convicted in 2012, for breaking US gambling laws and at a certain point his conviction got overturned. He had the support of the poker world, including the Poker Players Alliance. Despite this support, DiCristina currently faces 10 years in prison after the rejection of the Supreme Court to hear the case.