POLICE COLD ON POKER IN ICELAND

22 June 2007

Another poker tournament busted

Reykjavik police burst in on a public poker tournament in Iceland last weekend, bringing the entertainment to a halt on allegations against the organiser of profiting from gambling.

Central to the police allegation is the fact that the 150 players in the tournament had paid the equivalent of $64 as a buy-in, although the tournament's organiser, Sindri Ludyiksson, claimed that he did not realise he was doing anything illegal.

The authorities first visited the tournament at 3pm, by which time an hour of play had taken place. However they departed and play carried on. At 7.30pm the police reappeared, this time accompanied by a lawyer from the prosecutor's office, and the tournament was stopped despite an entry field that had been thinned down to 30 players. Fittings and equipment used in the tournament were confiscated and taken away.

Ludyiksson protested to local media that the fee collected for the event is no different than that collected from people who play bridge or bingo, which is legal in Iceland.

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