Non-profit orgs turning to Texas Hold‘Em for fund raisers
Government may regulate charity tournaments as they become more popular in US
Wednesday 29th September 2004
The widespread boom in poker, is seeing a rise in poker tournaments held by charitable organisations as fund raising events. The renewed appeal of the game has provided charities with a new avenue for raising money for whatever cause they need. Hosting a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament has seen the level of interest and amount of money raised increase for many organisations. In fact in the US, an employee of one state attorney general’s Charitable Trust Division has stated that until last year she had never seen a licensing request for Texas Hold ‘Em. She now estimates that around half of the applications received by the Charitable Trust Division are for requests for just such a tournament.
The proliferation of charitable tournaments has seen governmental bodies now take an interest in the pursuit. Currently the state earns no money from any licensed charity event, with even the organisation’s application fee being given to that local town or city. This fact is now being looked into, with the idea of creating new regulations for poker being considered. Any such changes to legislation, or regulations, may end up affecting the now prospering charitable branch of the poker boom and the non-profit organisations which host them.
One business man who has become involved with non profit poker tournaments in the New Hampshire and Vermont areas, Art Phillips, claims that the organisations usually take home US$6000 and $12 000 per event. Phillips is involved with leasing the tables, and other poker materials to events, taking a flat fee rather than a commission based percentage. With the increasing number of such events, and the amounts now being earned by the non-profits, charity Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments are almost an industry itself. As such it may stand to experience new regulations as dictated by the state.
