New card game, tournament rules explained
Pub Date: 9/1/2007
By Gene Huntington, Administrator
The Gambling Control Division
The 2007 Montana Legislature approved the recommendations of the Gaming Advisory Council to update the card game laws in response to the surge of popularity in Texas Hold Em. Several of the recommendations were related to changes in card tournament laws and rules in order to accommodate Hold Em tournaments.
The Gambling Control Division (GCD) continues to see an increase in the number of tournament applications. Here are some of the changes that became effective on July 1, 2007:
Progressive tournaments Under the prior law and rules, each tournament was separate, and a seat in a higher level tournament couldn't be awarded as a prize. The law now provides for progressive tournaments by allowing tournament organizers to award a seat in a future tournament.
Current law also allows several different locations to participate in a tournament. Each location would need to get a permit for the tournament and indicate that the tournament was part of a larger event. If the second or third round of the tournament was played outside of the five-day limit on card tournaments, organizers would have to get permits for each round.
Charitable Tournaments The 2007 Legislature also clarified that charitable card tournaments can only be conducted by licensed gambling operators with licensed card tables. The legislation made clear that card tournaments cannot be conducted as casino nights by nonprofit groups. The new legislation, however, provided that licensed gambling operators with card table permits can conduct charitable tournaments.
In addition, any event that is advertised as a charity event must distribute at least 50 percent of the proceeds of the tournament to the charitable cause.
Limit on Entry and Re-Entry Fees In the past, in an attempt to comply with the $300 per pot limit, card tournament applicants were asked to estimate the number of games they anticipated. These estimates were, at best, guesses, and were cumbersome for applicants as well as the GCD.
After much discussion, the Gaming Advisory Council recommended a different approach to this by limiting the entry fees (buy-in and re-buys) to $2,500. In the case of a progressive tournament, the $2,500 limit applies to the entire tournament (all rounds) for which the permit is issued.
Record Keeping Because of the limit on entry fees and the 50 percent distribution requirement of charitable tournaments, the Division has adopted rules requiring the licensed operator or card room contractor to maintain the records of the tournament for a period of 12 months.
In general the records should include names of the players, name(s) of the charity, the amount each player paid in entry fees, the winner s name, the amount of the prizes, and in the case of a charitable tournament, the amount of money distributed to the charity.
Some other issues have come up in recent months, and while not related to changes in the law, are things operators should bear in mind:
The applicant for the tournament permit must be the licensed gambling operator or the card room contractor. Other parties who manage or want to sponsor tournaments cannot operate tournaments unless they are the designated card room contractor for the tournament site.
All dealers must be licensed dealers and employees of the gambling operator or the card room contractor. Dealers cannot be compensated by splitting the rake.
Tournament applications must be received by the GCD at least 10 days prior to the date of the card tournament.
A final reminder for those who may be planning a card tournament: the process for getting temporary card dealer licenses has changed. In order to get a temporary license all application materials must be delivered to a GCD field office. Every effort will be made to process a temporary license within 24 hours.
If you are planning a tournament in a community that does not have a Gambling Control office, you may want to make sure all of your dealers for the tournament have their licenses a few days ahead of the tournament.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, September, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.