Mike Kasper is NOT Going to Jail!
I have been playing poker since I was a teenager. I used to get together with friends at their parents house about once a month while in high school. Never did I ever imagine that what I was doing was illegal in Idaho, but last year I was playing Texas Hold‘em at a buddy's. While watching the MLB all-star game, a Boise Police task force busted in, guns drawn to give us all gambling tickets.
I’m not making this up. I understand, gambling in Idaho is illegal, but Poker is not gambling, it is a game of skill and games of skill according to the law are excluded. I have played poker in the past with police officers and judges, so you can see my confusion. I finally had my day in court last month and the judge in the case, the honorable Judge James Cawthon, just released his decision.
Suffice it to say, I am a free man after the case was dismissed because the gambling statute as it applies to poker was ruled “unconstitutional”.
You can read below an article about the recent decision that appeared this week in Bloomberg, plus all the particulars about the case and the people involved. You can also read the entire official decision from the judge.
I am just happy to know that I can say: “Free at Last, free at last, thank gawd almighty, free at last!”
