Posted on 02/09/2007 6:44:01 PM PST by Rodney King
nbc4.tv $50 Football Pool Leads To Illegal Gambling Charges A volunteer waitress and a widowed great-grandmother who tends bar at the Lake Elsinore Elks Lodge are due in court later this month after pleading not guilty to misdemeanor charges of operating an illegal gambling operation.
Video
Margaret Hamblin, 73, and 39-year-old Cari Gardner, who donates her time as a waitress at the lodge, face up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine for allegedly running a $50 football pool at the facility, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The charges stem from a Nov. 20 investigation by state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents into an anonymous tip that lodge members bet on NFL games.
Behind the bar, the armed agents found an envelope with $5 from each of the 10 members taking part in the pool. The person who came closest to guessing the combined score of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New York Giants was to pocket the contents, according to the Press-Enterprise.
"It was just regular 'Monday Night Football,' " said Hamblin, who has tended bar for 40 years, six of them at the lodge. "We were sitting at the bar, and the gang wanted to do something," she said, according to the newspaper.
Timothy Clark, who heads the department's Riverside district, which issued the citations, said football pools "are a violation of the law, and we will take whatever we feel is appropriate action to ensure compliance by our licensees," the newspaper reported.
Clark said he has recommended a one-year probationary period during which the lodge could host no gambling activities, or it would face a 10-day license suspension, according to the Press-Enterprise.
That means the end of events such as a "50-50" raffle in which proceeds typically go to scholarship funds and local charities for disabled children and veterans, Hamblin told the newspaper.
Hamblin and Gardner, who are represented on a pro bono basis, must return to court Feb. 28 for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will determine if there are grounds to order them to stand trial.
In the meantime, beverage control officials are reviewing the Elks Lodge license, according to the newspaper.
Copyright 2007 by NBC4.tv. City News Service contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Everybody knows in order to not get in trouble, you must stick to $20 football.
This is just sickening. Freedom has totally died in this country.
Not here. This is ludicrous. Hopefully the jury will throw the prosecutors out of the court bodily and tell them to do something useful
Downright anti-American.
No Feds, thankfully.
I've done this several times. I guess I should be doing life without parole.
Why are the police putting these fraternal organizations out of business?
What has our society come to? You can have a a bunch of perverts parading with police protection but get a few guys having a few beers and having a good time and all hell breaks loose.
Moral Absolutes Ping!
Oops. Not my ping list...
Why were "armed agents" not sent to secure our boarders instead. (That is not /sarc.)
A longer version of that, is the first item on my FR profile page.
ROFL! No doubt the Puritan wing of FR will side with the federales on this.
"Why are the police putting these fraternal organizations out of business? "
I really think it is because...
"Current members are required to be U.S. citizens over the age of 21 and believe in God."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elks_Lodge
Time to turn illegal gambling over to the illegals so it would be OK.
I was always under the impression that pools were legal so long as the house didn't keep a portion of the proceeds - perhaps it depends on the state.
If a government has the time and money to spend resources on investigating and charging people running the local lodge's $50 football pool, that government is far, far too big and intrusive.
A whole lot of laws need to be repealed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.