The Growing Popularity of Poker in Portland, OR
Written by Matt W | Friday, June 18th, 2010
The Portland Tribune ran an interesting article this week about the growing popularity of poker rooms in the city. The publication shows how poker parlors have sprouted up all over town thanks to the “Texas Hold ‘em fever” that has swept the nation, popularized by the WSOP and other events on cable TV. As a result, a large number of poker parlors offer tournaments starting at noon, and running well past midnight.
“Each day, hundreds if not thousands of Portlanders are paying to enter Texas Hold ’Em tournaments at the growing number of poker parlors. Many more are entering regular tournaments held at bars, fraternal organizations and athletic clubs,” reads the article.
One of the regular players is quoted as saying that poker parlors offer him an inexpensive way to develop his skills in a fun setting.
“You get burned and you lose your stack, you’ve lost 20 bucks and you’re alive for the next tournament,” he said.
The Oregon Legislature passed a law in 1973 that essentially legalized “social gambling”, meaning that cities and counties could pass ordinances permitting poker and other ‘social’ games in clubs and businesses. One of the conditions of the law is that the house per se cannot earn a cut of the winner’s profits, and all money that is wagered in the poker tournament eventually finds its way back to the players.
Portland’s city laws dictate that players are not allowed to wager more than $1 “or other thing of value in any one game.” The city licenses around 30 businesses for social gambling and poker and the system seems to be working well as “nobody’s complained so far,” according to Anne Holm, regulatory program administrator for the Portland Revenue Bureau.
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
