In the face of the growing popularity of poker, many law enforcement agencies are cracking down on even smaller games in private residences. The Champaign-Urbana community, however, is willing to let the games continue, especially where University students are concerned.

According to state law, poker games with monetary stakes are considered gambling and are thus illegal no matter how much money is on the line, said Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz. A first offense can result in court supervision or probation, and a second offense can get the offender one-to-three years in prison. Chicago has recently been enforcing this law, fining offenders $200 for even a small, private game. However, Rietz said her office is not interested in pursuing the issue as far as Chicago has.

“I’m not aware of anything going on as far as prosecutions or investigations of simple poker games,” she said. “I think it’d be fair to say that friendly poker games are not a high priority for prosecutions in my office.”

Kris Fitzpatrick, assistant chief of University Police, said the University Police Department shares Rietz’ view that private poker games are mostly harmless.

“We don’t have any investigations or anything,” Fitzpatrick said. “If someone called in a complaint, we’d certainly investigate, but it’s not something we’ve received complaints about and we’re not pursuing it.”

Fitzpatrick noted, however, that if they received a complaint, they had several options on how to deal with the offenders, including referring them to University discipline and even arresting them.

Many students, however, are not concerned with any consequences beyond losing money. Jake Adams, a senior in Engineering who claims to play poker about once a week, said even though students may not know the letter of the law, they have little fear of having their games shut down.

“Basically, I don’t think most students are concerned about negative results,” Adams said. “I don’t know anyone who’s worried about being busted. If I knew anyone who got busted, I might be a little more secretive, though.”

Adams also said that most students appreciate that the University and community have other concerns.

“I don’t think it’s anything to get worked up about,” he said.