Anyone who wants to can join an illegal poker tournament in Brabant every day. Thousands of euros are involved in these often professionally organized tournaments and many municipalities tolerate it. This is apparent from conversations that Omroep Brabant had with two poker players with a lot of experience. “The problem with home games is, you never know who might come in.”
Two luxury apartments and a commercial building in Eindhoven were the scene of illegal poker tournaments. Last Sunday night, the police raided the place and arrested four suspects. Seventeen visitors were also interviewed. There was plenty of poker and gambling going on at the time of the raid. Just how big is the illegal poker world, and what do these evenings look like?
The size of the illegal poker circuit is bigger than you might think when you read the police reports. If you know the right people, you can play illegal poker every day. At home tournaments, there is often even a paid, professional croupier and the game is played for thousands of euros.
The full names of the interviewees are known to the editors.
‘Certain kind of people’
Paul has been attending illegal poker tournaments for about a decade. Usually in rooms behind a café, sometimes also in people’s homes or in a company hall in an industrial area. “My experience on the evenings I visit is: nothing wrong happens. Nothing dangerous, nothing unpleasant. That’s because poker players usually keep quiet and don’t want any hassle. It’s a kind of omerta: you have a common hobby, and you keep your mouth shut.” Because playing poker outside the casino remains illegal.
The fact that Paul prefers to play in a café rather than somewhere at home has partly to do with safety. “The problem with home games is, you never know who might come in. I have no interest in sitting down at a table where everyone has 10,000 euros in front of them, that is asking for trouble. How do they get that money? Nobody asks, of course. But there is a certain kind of people there, those are guys you really don’t want to belong to.”
Professional
Dimitri was also a regular at illegal poker tournaments for a long time. He thought carefully about where he would and would not go. “It’s really an underground scene, you have to know people through people to get invited. I would describe myself as a normal guy. When I go to a home game I see who is coming, do I know those people? If it’s a game where guns and drugs are present, then I won’t play it anyway. I have never experienced anything unpleasant.”
Dimitri also mentions the professionalism of the home games. “There are a few in the area, they are a kind of home casinos. Without giving too many details: You play poker at a real, well-padded table. Same quality as in the casino.”
How many people come to such an evening? “30 men is normal, but 100, 150 people is also possible. You play for a few tens to thousands of euros. The organizer gets a percentage, which can possibly earn thousands of euros per month.”
Some municipalities less strict
The police often tolerate the tournaments. There are, however, differences between the municipalities in Brabant. Paul: “Some are strict, others much less strict. One city has been very strict for a while, but now plenty of tournaments are being organized again. It doesn’t matter which municipality, I don’t want to wake up sleeping dogs.”
He himself was once present at a police raid: “A few years ago I was playing poker in a bar in Helmond. But that owner was suspected of tax fraud and they happened to come in while we were playing poker. That didn’t help.”
According to both speakers, the fact that Holland Casino organizes few poker tournaments also contributes to the success of the illegal circuit. Dimitri: “Poker is the only game at Holland Casino where you don’t play against the house, but against others. The casino takes a small part of the commission, but it is financially much less interesting than, for example, roulette.”
Paul hopes the casino will soon come online with its promised poker website. “That should happen within a year, they said.” Because it also applies to online poker: it is tolerated, but is still illegal.
This story appeared in another version online in August 2020, when Omroep Brabant also covered illegal poker tournaments.