Top Trending: Gary Watts Lawsuit Claims Private Poker Games Not Illegal in South Carolina

A South Carolina poker player is set to challenge the concept that private games are against the law in the Palmetto State.  Scroll down for all the latest gambling headlines from across the globe and top trending articles at Gambling911.com. 

Gary Watts Says SLED, the Irmo, police and State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) overstepped their boundaries and broke the law when they arrested him and ten other friends playing poker in a rented office suite last year. 

SLED went as far as to insert an informant into the game who wore a wire that recorded the players with “hidden recording equipment,” according to court documents — irrefutable evidence of poker playing.

“Playing poker ... with your friends in a rented office suite is not against the law,” says Watts’ recently flied lawsuit.

From The Herald:

Watts, who wants a jury trial, is accusing Irmo and SLED of false arrest, malicious prosecution and trespassing. Illegal gambling is a misdemeanor, but Watts has not yet been to trial on the charge. The heart of Watts’ lawsuit is its contention that the state law against playing poker specifically names the places where poker is illegal: taverns, inns, liquor stores, barns, kitchens, stables, outhouses, streets, highways, open woods and race tracks.

Watts’ lawsuit contained a rare bit of sarcasm for a legal document. It called the law officers in full tactical gear with assault rifles who smashed in the glass door to his rented office suite “a crack team of gumshoes” who “charged in like SEAL Team 6” and arrested a harmless “group of friends who routinely gather in an office suite to play poker, have dinner, and share fellowship.”

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- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher