Definition clears man of gambling charges

FORT COLLINS - When Windsor resident Kevin Raley started helping to organize friendly poker tournaments in a Greeley bar, he never thought he'd end up in court facing charges of illegal gambling.

But following an undercover investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Raley and four other players were arrested in August. They were charged with professional gambling and illegal gambling, and faced jail time if convicted.

Last week, however, a Weld County jury agreed with Raley's argument that poker games between friends are just that - poker games between friends. The jury acquitted Raley on a charge of illegal gambling after prosecutors dropped the professional gambling charge before the trial began.

"We never believed we were doing anything wrong whatsoever," Raley said. "It's entertainment. Some people go to the movies. Some people play golf. I play poker."

The national Poker Players Alliance helped Raley, a software consultant, mount his defense, paying for an expert witness to testify that poker is a game of skill, not chance.

Under Colorado law, illegal gambling "means risking any money, credit, deposit, or other thing of value for gain contingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, the operation of a gambling device, or the happening or outcome of an event, including a sporting event, over which the person taking a risk has no control, but does not include bona fide contests of skill."

The PPA's expert, professor Robert Hannum of the University of Denver, testified that poker isn't dependent primarily on chance but on each player's skill. Hannum is a professor of statistics and is the author of the book "Practical Casino Math."

Hannum said there are many factors that go into how a player plays a game of poker, and few of them are based on chance.

"There are a lot of facets to the skill, in terms of knowing the math and the odds, reading the people, trying to glean what other players' hole cards might be. But it's all expressed in the decision they make in how much money, if any, they are willing to invest," Hannum said.

He noted that a skilled poker player will beat an unskilled one "consistently and probably convincingly," but that true games of chance require no skill.

In a statement, the PPA lauded the jury's decision and said it hoped the outcome would help law enforcement to focus on what it said is "real unlawful activity."

"... The not-guilty verdict cements the rights of Colorado citizens to enjoy the American pastime of poker and will allow law enforcement to use its scarce resources to investigate real unlawful activity in the state, not poker games," Colorado state PPA director Gary Reed said.

Prosecutors dropped the professional gambling charge against Raley before the case went to trial. The illegal gambling charge carried a maximum penalty of a $100 fine.

A spokeswoman for Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck said prosecutors felt the case was an "appropriate" one to present to a jury. CBI spokesman Lance Clem said CBI agents got involved at the request of Greeley police.

"We thought we helped put together a good case and still feel that way," Clem said.

Raley said he still doesn't understand why CBI and prosecutors thought targeting him made sense.

"The five of us all assumed that once all the facts were known to the DA, they would drop the charges," Raley said. "We never assumed we would go clear to court."

The three men and one woman arrested with Raley still face charges.