Authorities Shut Michigan Charity Poker Room
Written by Matt W | Thursday, March 11th, 2010
A poker room which has seen millions raised for Michigan charities has been shut down after authorities blamed the owners for allegedly charging charity groups more than what is allowed by law.
The Michigan Lottery began an eight month investigation into the matter after complaints were received that the Fisher Bingo Hall and Poker Room in Flint, Michigan was running what they called a “scheme”. This involved demanding more money upfront for the use of the poker room for charity events, with the owners pocketing the revenue.
Michigan’s law clearly lays out the maximum amount of money that poker rooms are allowed to demand from charities in return for the use of their premises.
A message from the Michigan Lottery released this week stated: “The Poker Room at Fisher Hall in Flint will be closed starting today [Wednesday] following violations of law enforced by the Michigan Lottery’s Charitable Gaming Division … The Poker Room, which was used by area charities to conduct their licensed millionaire parties, will be closed indefinitely. The investigation resulted in a settlement agreement with the Bureau of State Lottery in which the location agreed to close the Poker Room. The settlement, which serves as an acknowledgement of violation, also includes fines.”
The owner of the poker room, Henry Tannenbaum insisted that the poker hall had done nothing wrong and had certainly not broken the law. “We were making hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity,” he said in a brief statement.”
Nevertheless, as part of the settlement with the Michigan Lottery and authorities, Tannenbaum agreed to close the poker hall indefinitely.
Tannenbaum said that he would react further to the claims later this week.
According to the Michigan Lottery, the poker room, which has been active since 2004, hosted 140 millionaire poker parties last year alone.
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
