Taking your chances - Gambling could win you jail time

So you're planning to gather at a favorite pub to watch the Super Bowl this weekend while chowing down on bar food and washing it down with beer. The opportunity may come up to bet that the New England Patriots will scrub the floor with the Philadelphia Eagles.

If the wagering is for bragging rights, it's part of the fun. If money is involved, it's illegal.

Whether it's betting on the Super Bowl, putting a dollar on a grid to see who will win the NCAA championship or tossing dice in the back of a bar to win cash, it's a crime if you're caught.

Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said gambling occurs when anyone wagers something of value on a game of chance in order to get something of greater value.

A group of guys playing poker at a bar for money can be arrested and prosecuted. The Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament at Show Me's restaurant and bar is legal because participants are not required to wager any money in order to play.

Gambling is illegal, but forms of it are conducted legally under the auspices of the Missouri Lottery, explained Clarence Greeno, gaming enforcement manager for the Missouri Gaming Commission.

Some local bars offer pull tab machines and Keno to their customers, which are part of the Missouri Lottery. Greeno cautioned consumers to be sure if they want to play those machines that they play the ones connected to the lottery.

"One thing we have found in a lot of bars, truck stops and convenience stores are gaming devices placed there by amusement companies, but they are actually games of chance and are illegal," Greeno said.

Greeno said that his agency has jurisdiction over only riverboat gambling operations and charitable organizations that hold bingo permits.

Some charitable organizations, such as veterans groups that have bars at their post homes, offer paper pull-tab chances between bingo games. The organization may have a bingo license, but those pull tabs, he said, are illegal.

The local police have jurisdiction over local illegal gambling.

Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman Jason Selzer said the police department handles gambling complaints on a case-by-case basis.

"That's been the case for years," he said. "If something is reported to us, if somebody calls, we will do something about it."

The local police and the prosecutor's office don't get many calls complaining about it, Swingle said, nor do they spend a lot of time looking for illegal gambling. But if someone calls to complain about it, the police will investigate and make an arrest when it is warranted, such as a case Swingle recalled from about 10 years ago.

"Every now and then we have had cases of wives calling in, tired of their husbands gambling their paychecks away," he said. "We did a search warrant in the middle of the night and got 12 guys around a poker table, and all ended up being prosecuted for gambling."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160