Legal Ramifications?

Rivaflush

Hey All...
what are the legal ramifications for holding a buy in game at home? It seems people are at least mildly concerned about this..where as i thought that having a home game was perfectly okay.

WaterLooser

Do some searches on this forum. If ScottyZ has to reply to another "legal" question, I think he is going to snap1.







1 Mr. Z is not a lawyer, but he is a mod, and bannings might start happening for duplicate postings. Same goes for "What is a good poker book?"

ScottyZ

Mr. Z is not a lawyer, but he is a mod, and bannings might start happening for duplicate postings. Same goes for "What is a good poker book?"

Same goes for "So, I've got pokcet Aces..."

And although I appreciate the concern, don't worry. I snapped a long time ago.



To address the original post, whether or not you're doing something in your home rarely affects its legality.

There are some exceptions. For example, you may legally run around your on home (or the home of a good friend presumably) buck naked (with the reasonable expectation that you will not be seen by the outside world). On the other hand, it is illegal to run around naked on the lawn outside of the Parliament buildings. I would think that selling heroin out of your basement would be no more or less illegal than selling it at your local Tim Hortons.

As far as I can tell, gaming law does not discriminate against playing games in public or private places. However, the choice of venue may have some bearing on who exactly faces the consequences of an infraction (if any).

Criminal Code, sections 197-202. Forum search for "law". Seek the advice of an actual lawyer. Yadda yadda yadda.

ScottyZ

WaterLooser

Do you have that reply in a file somewhere so you can just copy-and-paste it into each post?

Rivaflush

Thanks!
Next time i'll do the searching, but i apprecate the quick response!

AcidJoe

One thing Scotty (and I"m not a lawyer either but a former provincial offences officer) is that holding it at your home (ie a residence) affects the right of search and entry by the Law Enforcement. Which is a lot different than holding it at a "public venue" where the LE doesn't need a warrent to enter.