Fact sheet - poker tournament/funny money night - Office of Liquor ...

Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
Are you thinking of hosting a poker
tournament or funny money night?
Poker tournaments
There are many forms of poker including Caribbean
Stud, Manila, Five Card Stud and others. However, Texas
Hold’em poker has emerged as the most popular form of
poker with young people and this popularity has been
influenced by significant television exposure of poker
tournaments held overseas.
Can I host a poker tournament?
Poker involving gambling is lawful if played in a casino
licensed under the Casino Control Act 1982.
Other than in a licensed casino, any form of poker played
in a public place and in which gambling is involved is an
unlawful game under the provisions of the Criminal Code
Act 1899 if the playing is unauthorised.
Free to enter, free to play poker tournaments in public
places, where the venue pays the tournament operator a
fee for each player who participates in the tournament, are
not considered to be unlawful games.
However, there are reports of venues pushing the
boundaries of the ‘free’ policy by requiring players to
purchase a drink or by providing an incentive in the form
of extra chips to players who purchase a drink. Where
there is a prize to be won as a result of playing, then any
requirement for players to outlay their own money as a
condition of play or to obtain an advantage may arguably
constitute gambling.
A game of poker between friends at a private dwelling
where the total amount bet on each game is received by
the player with the winning hand and where players are
not charged a fee to play is not an unlawful game.
How can I ensure that any tournament is a
lawful game?
It is important that licensees do not place their liquor and
gaming licences in jeopardy by risking being convicted of
the offence of conducting an unlawful game.
Licensees are urged to seek independent legal advice
before allowing poker tournaments to be conducted on
their premises which depart from the free to enter, free to
play principle.
The rule of thumb in determining whether gambling is
involved is whether players are risking anything of value to
play in the poker tournament.
What are the penalties for holding an
unlawful game?
A person who operates a place for the conduct of an
unlawful game would be committing an offence under
section 232 of the Criminal Code Act 1899 – maximum
penalty—600 penalty units or three years imprisonment.
Section 233 makes it an offence to possess gaming
equipment which facilitates the playing of an unlawful
game where the circumstances of the possession are in
conjunction with evidence of the playing, or the intended
playing, of an unlawful game using that equipment -
maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
Section 234 provides the simple offences for conducting
and playing an unlawful game.
• Conducting - maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
• Playing - maximum penalty—40 penalty units.
‘Funny money nights’
The common method of holding ‘funny money nights’
(also called ‘casino nights’) is that persons attending
pay an entrance fee and receive a specified amount
of unredeemable token money which is used to play
at a variety of gambling games that one would usually
associate with a casino e.g. roulette and blackjack.
But the activity can become unlawful when, at the end
of the night’s games, an auction of donated goods is
held and bids may be made with whatever token money
a player has left. In such circumstances, players pay
the entrance fee with an expectation they can receive
or win something of value by playing the games. That is
gambling.
It is only a lawful activity providing the token money
cannot be redeemed for money or anything of value. In
other words, players must play for entertainment only.
How to conduct lawful ‘funny money nights’
If you intend to conduct ‘funny money nights’ you must
comply with the following requirements:
• an admission fee or donation may be charged for entry
into the event (the fundraising amount)
• play money, gaming chips, tokens, etc. must be
distributed fairly to participants
• further play money, chips or tokens may be purchased
during the event

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patrons cannot risk a stake on the outcome
• patrons cannot win and cannot lose anything of value
while playing the games
• play money, chips, tokens, etc. cannot be redeemed for
money or anything of value
• play money, chips, tokens, etc. cannot be used for the
purpose of bidding in an auction either during or after
the event
• play money, chips, tokens, etc. cannot be used to
otherwise determine the winner of a prize.
Persons playing in ‘funny money nights’ do so for the
entertainment value and with the knowledge that
the proceeds from the event will help the benefiting
organisation.
Things to think about
You cannot obtain a permit to conduct a ‘funny money
night’ in Queensland. Furthermore, if players gamble or
bet, then it is an unlawful activity under the Criminal Code
Act 1899.
The conduct of any unauthorised or unregulated gambling
game in a public place is considered to be undesirable and
is an office under the Criminal Code Act 1899.
Under the definition of ‘unlawful game’ contained in the
Act, games (involving gambling) played at a ‘funny money
night’ would be unlawful because of those elements
which are underlined in the following definition:
An unlawful game means a game of chance, or mixed
chance and skill, that—
(a) is not authorised under an Act and
(b) is played by one or more persons (players) who
gamble or bet on an outcome of the game for the
purpose of winning money or another consideration
and
(c) has at least one of the following characteristics—
(i) the game is conducted or played in a public place
(ii) the game is played in a place, or part of a place,
the occupier of which allows, on payment of
money or for other consideration, players to enter
and use for playing the game
(iii) a percentage of the amount gambled or bet is—
(A) kept by one or more of the players, or another
person and
(B) not included in the winnings of the players.
What are the penalties for holding an
unlawful ‘funny money night’?
A person (e.g. an association) who operates a place for the
conduct of a ‘funny money night’ would be committing an
offence under section 232 of the Criminal Code Act 1899
- maximum penalty—600 penalty units or three years
imprisonment.
Section 233 makes it an offence to possess gaming
equipment which facilitates the playing of an unlawful
game where the circumstances of the possession are in
conjunction with evidence of the playing, or the intended
playing, of an unlawful game using that equipment -
maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
Section 234 provides the simple offences for conducting
and playing an unlawful game.
• Conducting - maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
• Playing - maximum penalty—40 penalty units.
In order to remove any doubt that ‘funny money nights’
or poker tournaments (involving gambling) are
undesirable in Queensland, the Explanatory Notes
contained in the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment
Act 2005 stated—
The modernised definition of ‘unlawful game’ reaffirms the
community standard that unauthorised gambling games
are unacceptable in public places. Additionally, whether
conducted or played in a public place or elsewhere, a game
is an unlawful game if it is unauthorised and a person
takes a percentage of the amount gambled or bet by the
players and that percentage is not included in the winnings
of the players or a person charges players a fee to enter the
game or a person receives a fee or another consideration
to conduct the game, for example, games such as poker
tournaments or ‘funny money nights’.
For further information, please contact the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation on 13 13 04
or visit www.olgr.qld.gov.au
© The State of Queensland (Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation) 2010. Copyright protects this publication.
The State of Queensland has no objection to this material being reproduced but asserts its right to be recognised as author of its original
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