The New Road

Poker legality

I had a few questions about whether or not it was legal to play poker at Foo Camp or at my house.

Penal Code Sec. 337j

(a) It is unlawful for any person, as owner, lessee, or employee, whether for hire or not, either solely or in conjunction with others, to do any of the following without having first procured and thereafter maintained in effect all federal, state, and local licenses required by law:

(1) To deal, operate, carry on, conduct, maintain, or expose for play in this state any controlled game.

...

2) As used in this section, "controlled game" does not include any of the following:
(A) The game of bingo conducted pursuant to Section 326.5.
(B) Parimutuel racing on horse races regulated by the California Horse Racing Board.
(C) Any lottery game conducted by the California State Lottery.
(D) Games played with cards in private homes or residences, in which no person makes money for operating the game, except as a player.

So as long as I don't make any money as the house in my house, then it's perfectly legal in California (and lots of other states) to do that.

That being said, whether it's legal on a company premises or not is gray I would say, at best. For all intents and purposes we were camping there, thus making our temporary home. And as such, it should be legal to do anything in at the camp that we would do at home.