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Ironically, Virginia gambling law permits social gambling, meaning its residents are free to host home poker games of real cash Texas Hold’em, in so long as a rake is not being taken. For more information regarding Virginia’s gambling and poker betting statues, check out the References section.

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Last week, lawyers for a group of poker players were gearing up to challenge the law in the state of Virginia after a militarized police force stormed the players’ home poker game with semi-automatic weapons drawn this past November, the Washington Post reported.

But the state decided to offer them a deal.

The Great Falls home game featuring a $20,000 buy-in with hired dealers and masseuses was raided and $150,000 in cash was seized from the game’s host. Players in the game were charged with crimes for engaging in illegal gambling, though the defense was prepared to fight the allegations due to poker irrefutably being a game based on skill, not chance. The state argued that since a small cut of the buy-ins was taken to pay for the game’s amenities it then constitutes illegal gambling.

The poker game in question, located not far from Washington, D.C., had been running for several years and several well-known poker pros had played in it in the past, the report said.

The criminal case will not go to trial, but it doesn’t mean the unnamed poker players won.

[T]he Fairfax prosecutors, with what the lawyers said was the police detectives’ blessing, cut them a deal: stay clean for six months and the gambling charge would be dismissed, and eligible to be expunged from their record. And for those who had cash seized from them—one player had more than $20,000, the regular player said—the police agreed to return 60 percent of the money, and keep 40 percent.

It is not hyperbolic to say that the poker players were lucky no one was killed in the November raid. A 2006 police raid of a similar home poker game in Virginia resulted in a police officer killing a player, in what was called an accident. Two million dollars was awarded to the victim’s family.

There have been other cases of police SWAT teams raiding private poker games in Virginia. In 2009, a college student at James Madison University in Harrisonburg was charged for playing in a $2-$5 no-limit hold’em game. Others in that game pleaded guilty and received fines.

“They came in with high firepower and stormed in like they were about to apprehend a serial murder or something. It’s ridiculous,” the lawyer for the student said in 2009.

“The fact that the government sees it fit to treat people who are participating in such innocent activities as if they’re common criminals is unconscionable.'

Years later, this is still an ongoing problem in Virginia.

The state is highly hostile to poker players and apparently has no desire to change that. In 2013, the Virginia Supreme Court decided not to consider whether poker was a game of skill or not, after a 2010 shutdown of a charity poker game in the commonwealth.

Later in 2013, police busted a home poker game that had a minimum $100 buy-in.

Is It Legal to Play Poker in Virginia?

Virginia is one of the few states that doesn’t allow organized card clubs/casinos, but is perfectly fine with private home poker games. Sure they have restrictions, but most of your friendly home games are good to go. On top of that, you can play online poker in most circumstances even under the federal law.

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For more information please visit our poker sites for us players page. Includes information on which poker sites accept players from Virginia and more.

Does Virginia Have Organized Poker Rooms?

No, short of horse racing and the state-sponsored loterry, Virginia doesn’t condone any sort of formalized gambling. This means there are no casinos, no slot machines, and definitely no poker rooms. Many Virginian gamblers find that the best way to get their fix is to go to their neighboring states, such as West Virginia, where casinos (now with table games) are available.

This mass exodus of gamblers every weekend has definitely captured the attention of lawmakers who see nothing more than money pouring out of their state, but for the moment, they seem content with the current laws, and very little has been done to try to change anything. In the next few years, we will probably see a few small changes that allow some (heavily restricted) growth in Virginia’s crippled gambling industry.

Home Poker Game In Virginia

Are Home Games Legal in Virginia?

Even though we saw earlier that gambling has generally been made illegal, § 18.2-334 of the Virginia Penal code makes home games a complete exception, “Nothing in this article shall be construed to make it illegal to participate in a game of chance conducted in a private residence, provided such private residence is not commonly used for such games of chance and there is no operator as defined in subsection 4 of § 18.2-325.”

Online Poker For Home Games

To qualify the person who is hosting the game cannot act as an operator in the legal sense of the word. To accomplish this, simply do not attempt to profit from running the game. You cannot charge players to sit at the table, and you cannot rake the pot. As long as you, the host, are just another player, the game is completely legal.

Playing Poker Online in the State of Virginia

Virginia has yet to actually make a law regarding online poker. As it stands right now, you’ll just have to try to apply their standard laws to the digital world. For instance, you can legally play poker online, but if you wanted to start your own poker website (for profit) then you would be in clear violation of the law.

From the federal level, operating a poker website is extremely illegal, and there are also a lot of restrictions on the banks that deal with online poker rooms. As for normal online poker players, the federal government has never made a law against online gambling, nor have they ever arrested or prosecuted anyone for playing poker online. At worst, your credit card company may not be allowed to send your money, in the form of a deposit, to an online poker company due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

West Virginia - West Virginia Poker

Washington - Washington Poker Laws

Wisconsin - Wisconsin Poker Laws

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Wyoming - Wyoming Poker Law