Chris Moneymaker has been forced to close the Kentucky poker space he opened just 5 months ago, according to PokerNews.com. His choice follows threats of criminal action from neighborhood authorities.
Gambling is illegal in Kentucky. Nevertheless, Moneymaker’s poker space circumvented that state law the same way card rooms do in Texas – by collecting membership and seat charges instead of rakes from tournament pots. (They charge for the space, according to the charade. What the members choose to do with the space is up to them.)
No A lot more Moneymaking
The Moneymaker Social Club, located in the modest town of Paducah, was authorized by McCracken County Attorney Sam Clymer final year. But Clymer has since been replaced by Cade Foster, who doesn’t take as kindly to circumventing state laws.
Moneymaker got a whiff of the changing tide when he applied for a Kentucky liquor license and got declined. He mentioned he thinks Foster – who was voted in right after Clymer declined to run for re-election – started “looking into what we are doing” soon after an objection was raised by the state alcohol bureau – though he mentioned that Clymer had previously been informed of the organization model and seemed OK with it.
Deal Him In
Whilst Moneymaker was in England final week an iGaming conference, his lawyer reached out to Foster’s office to cut a deal, according to Poker News. In exchange for avoiding misdemeanor and felony illegal gambling charges, Moneymaker would shut down the poker aspect of his enterprise. He also asked for permission to finish up a $50K tournament his club was operating initial.
Both requests have been granted.
Till Moneymaker figures out his next move, his company will operate as an actual social club and not just a single in name  only – offering food and billiards.
“I’m going to spend the employees, give them a place to perform,” he told Poker News. “It’s not their fault that the county attorney had a modify of heart.”
Moneymaker said he still hopes to 1 day be in a position to legally bring poker back to Moneymaker Social Club. (And it sounds like “one day” could take place anytime the next county attorney gets voted in.)
Shake Your Moneymaker 
Moneymaker became a poker star in 2003, even though he was nevertheless a 27-year-old accountant. Defying the odds, he became the first player to turn an on the web satellite win into a WSOP Major Occasion win, converting his $86 entry charge into $two.5 million.
His win — which coined the phrase, the Moneymaker Impact — is widely credited with revolutionizing poker by opening it up to the masses at a time when interest in the sport was in decline.
It was also “a full error,” Moneymaker told CNN in 2021.
“I believed I was playing for money. I do not want the seat to go play in the Planet Series of Poker to go play against the ideal players in the globe because I’m just an amateur player playing with pals. I’ve in no way played against a pro in my life. And $8,000 would go a long way to paying off my bills and assisting with factors about the property.”
The 2019 Poker Hall of Fame inductee counts lifetime tournament winnings exceeding $three.95 million.