WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Poker Explosion Hits Vermont
Burlington, Vermont - April 25, 2004
The competition was intense, and the stakes high at the Burlington Elks Club Lodge on Sunday.
The lodge hosted a Texas hold 'em poker tournament. Each player laid down $100 with the hopes of winning $4,000.
"I love playing the game and I like a live tournament," Troy Headrick of Burlington said. "I play on line quite a bit, but decided I'd give a live tournament a shot."
92 players ponied up the buy in, with hopes of winning it all.
"It's our first time that we've done this," Glenn O'Brien of the Elk's club said, "but based on the turnout, it won't be our last."
Poker, like most games of chance, is illegal in Vermont, but don't expect the police to start arresting people here, because this game is perfectly legal. Gambling is allowed in Vermont, provided the proceeds go to charity, minus certain expenses.
"Rent of the premises, the rent of the equipment," David Tarter of the VT Attorney General's office says as he reads down the list, "the prize money, and then you are allowed to pay your workers, but there are limits on how much they can be paid."
Gambling has become a popular way to raise money for charities, from casino nights, to Calcutta's, and now poker tournaments. Charities say they are profitable, but caution there can be too much of a good thing.
"On the surface it looks like easy money," O'Brien said. "But it's a lot like Calcutta's, everyone's starting to have one so it's starting to get saturated. So in terms of filling up, we were looking for 104 today, and we had 92. So we'll see the next time around here, we're planning another one in October. And we'll see then if we can continue to draw the crowds."
Mark Bosma - Channel 3 News
