The news is old but the investigations that led to the indictment of 2 organizers and 6 players who played cash games in the Rainbow poker club in Ferrara have only been concluded in recent days.
Written by Ca
Photo La Nuova Ferrara
The timing with which it arrives seems to be totally random indictment of 2 organizers and 6 playersr who played a cash game table in the “Rainbow” club in Ferrara. We talked about the matter again a few days ago but, now, the news also reported by Assopoker via “La Nuova Ferrara” is very topical again. Yes, because the news of the serious provision for the 8 citizens arrives precisely in the days in which the Prestige Prato case is taking center stage.
It took over two years of investigation. The first blitz was in 2021 with the raid of the Police who discovered at the tables of the Rainbow club in the city of Este, eight people who were engaged in a cash game, that game mode different from the tournament in which players top up their stack by paying a fixed minimum and maximum fee based on the starting levels set by the room and which always remain fixed.
A gaming not permitted according to the jurisprudence of the Court of Cassationand which has set the basic limits within which live poker is permitted. All in the absence of a famous regulation Germontani amendment 13 years ago now merged into a community law which indicated the standardization of the sector.
Even if there would be discussion about the illegality of the cash game, the indications in this case are clear and an illegal game was being played in Ferrara. Modest, but illegal. In fact, at the tables there were players aged between 40 and 70 who tried “clumsily to hide banknotes for a total value of 1,265 euros”. A quiet 1/2 was being played where the amounts are 1 euro to be paid on the small blind and 2 from the big blind or perhaps even with lower levels.
After having talked about it enough, the story now has an epilogue that does not bode well for many Italian chambers: in recent days in the preliminary hearing it was decided to send all the Ferrara defendants to trial.
During the action the agents discovered that the players were making cash payments directly to the dealer of the table (who was also reported). What also led the judges to send the eight people to trial was the evidence of a piece of paper which marked the amounts of money next to the names of the participants in the match.
The players risk one sanction or sentence but what is more serious is that a dangerous light could shine on the entire Italian movement. Maximum caution, at least in this phase and after spectacular seizure of the Prestige club in Prato where the problems were very different, Punto Banco, Black Jack and Ultimate Texas Hold’em. The Police and Adm also discovered the existence of the cash game and even if the poker players who were at the tournament tables were not identified or reported to the AG, if the investigators are able to demonstrate that perhaps the minimum stake was 2 thousand euros for a 10/20 game or slightly less low, then it could represent another problem for the managers of the Tuscan club.
