COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina poker players may not be sure when to fold ‘em even after a judge ruled Thursday that Texas Hold ‘em is a game of skill.
What Mount Pleasant Municipal Judge Larry Duffy didn’t decide is whether that determination matters under an 1802 South Carolina law that, read literally, makes any game with cards or dice — including popular board games such as Monopoly and Sorry — illegal.
State Attorney General Henry McMaster said his office has adopted a looser interpretation that only considers games more reliant on chance than on a player’s skill — including Texas Hold ‘em, a popular type of poker — to be gambling and therefore illegal.
Though Duffy said evidence was “overwhelming” that poker was a game of skill, he said he did not have enough guidance from higher courts or state lawmakers to know if that analysis makes a difference under South Carolina law.
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