South Carolina, USA Legalizes Recreational Poker

In what many in the online gambling industry are considering an important move, the US state of South Carolina has deemed recreational poker legal.   This comes from the state that back in 2006, 5 people were arrested in their own home for playing poker and found guilty.  The state has since progressed and now has made clear that gambling in the privacy of one's home is not considered to be illegal.  The legislature states that "Gambling in a private home where no house player, house bank, or house odds exist and where the house received no part of any of the money or other thing of value... is not unlawful."  This marks the end of a 200 year old anti-gambling law that barred citizens of South Carolina from enjoying recreational gambling in the privacy of their own homes.

Many see it as being one step closer to being allowed to play online poker, which might be a bit far from the truth considering that any form of poker in this state has been illegal for the past 200 years. However, this is another of the many ancient and outdated US laws which is being put to rest.  What is most interesting is that before this law was even passed, the sentiment shared by the media was that of serious skepticism.  No one thought that it was going to pass.    Indeed it passed by just a slim margin of 12-8.  Many around the world found this news to be surprising as clearly such an infringement of basic rights to personal freedom in the US is surprising to most.