4 Powerful Reasons to Avoid Illegal Gaming Rooms

Depending on the state you live in, your only chance to gamble might be in an illegal gaming room. Some states, like Texas, only allow gaming rooms to operate within strict guidelines. Some states don’t have casinos at all and require you to cross state lines to gamble.

If you live in a state like this, you may be aware that there are illegal gaming rooms where gamblers can find the gaming they can’t access legally. No matter your stance on the legality of gambling, you should stay away from these places for a number of reasons.

1- If They Get Busted, You Could Get Arrested

Probably more than anything else, this is the biggest reason not to go to an illegal gambling room—you could be arrested.

Again, this depends on the state you live in. Taking Texas gambling laws as an example again because they have the strictest regulations in the country, if the police bust the gaming room and you’re in it, you’re basically at their mercy.

If they’re annoyed with you or don’t like the way you look or their superior officer wants some arrests made to set an example, you just might find yourself in handcuffs.

For them, this is no big deal. They’re running an illegal enterprise after all. What do they care about being arrested and getting a criminal charge on their record?

For you, it could be very different. No one wants to have to deal with the hassle of being arrested, even briefly, not to mention the embarrassment of everything that accompanies it.

And depending on the kind of work you do, this could cause problems with your job, not to mention problems at home.

It’s just not worth it.

2- They Have No Requirement to Pay You Fairly

So let’s say that you’ve made peace with the idea that an illegal gaming room could be a place where you’d get arrested, and for whatever reason, that doesn’t bother you.

That doesn’t make a lot of sense, but let’s say that’s the case.

Then we have to think about why you’re there in the first place.

It’s to gamble, right? I’m assuming you want to gamble to win as most people do.

If that’s the case, this isn’t the place to do it.

It’s not at all uncommon for these illegal gaming rooms to not only have unfair games but to also pay you unfairly.

This is the same problem that the government ran into during prohibition. When people weren’t able to buy alcohol legally, instead, they turned to illegal alcohol. That meant they were drinking alcohol that was often dangerous.

Going to an illegal gaming room probably isn’t as dangerous as drinking gin someone made in a bathtub, but it’s not exactly the smartest thing you can do if you want to actually make money.

In a regulated casino or at a legal online casino, there are requirements for how much machines must payout.

Many of these gaming rooms are filled with gaming machines that have been rigged against the player far more than you would find in the average casino (and trust me, you’re not exactly getting a fair shake with slot machines in a real casino either).

On top of that, they have no requirement to treat you fairly at all. The money you’re making is as illegal as the money they’re making. What compels them to be fair to you?

You’re going to either have to have a lot of influence on the criminal underground or spend a lot of money there regularly to feel like they need to treat you fairly.

Is that really something you want to be involved in? I’m guessing not. Even if you somehow are okay with the idea of doing something illegal, it still doesn’t make sense to bet your hard-earned money somewhere if they’re not even required to pay you fairly.

If they decide they’re only going to pay you half of your winnings, what can you do about it? Nothing, unless you’re willing to cross some serious lines and put them and yourself in danger, which would be insane.

Another thing to think about is that they can take whatever actions they like if they think you’re cheating somehow, even if you aren’t, and they can take those same actions if they just decide you’ve been winning too much.

If you’re playing poker in an illegal gaming room and keep winning, what’s to stop the other players from beating you up and taking your money? What’s to stop the proprietor from deciding not to pay you at all because they don’t like how much you’re winning?

Nothing.

3- They Have no Requirement to Report Your Earnings to the IRS

This is probably a bigger deal than actually getting arrested. Indeed, the IRS doesn’t audit everyone. Still, the IRS has repeatedly said that they mostly audit the average citizen because it costs too much to audit the rich, so unless you’re exceptionally well off, an audit might be in your future.

If the IRS looks into your records and sees large amounts of money being moved around, even if you aren’t winning money, they’ll ask you where that money came from or where it went.

These places aren’t going to provide you with receipts. They’re not going to give you the proper forms to ensure you file your taxes appropriately and that the IRS knows you lost money gambling.

They don’t care if you get arrested for tax fraud. They’re just happy to take your money and let you deal with the real consequences.

The IRS does not mess around. They aren’t going to cut you slack in the best of times, let alone discover that you’ve been breaking the law and gambling illegally.

If you make a lot of money in these illegal gaming rooms, which is highly unlikely but still possible, especially if there’s a lot of poker being played, you’re going to have to account for that money.

So either you have to launder the money and commit yet another crime, or you have to just hope the IRS doesn’t notice, which is a crime.

None of this is worth it. It’s better to get on a plane and fly to Vegas or Atlantic City than to put yourself and your future at risk.

4- They Might Be Robbed, and You Might Be Too

Even if we put all of this aside and pretend that nothing else goes wrong with the IRS or city police or anything like that, we still have to remember that this is an illegal enterprise.

Which means that the police have no reason to protect them.

And they are serving a group of criminals essentially.

Which means there’s nothing stopping other criminals from deciding to rob them.

If this happens, what can you even do about it?

That’s assuming you aren’t hurt during the robbery. Are you going to go to the police and tell them you were in an illegal gaming room? Do you think the owners are going to call the police to report a robbery?

There’s nothing protecting you in these places. The proprietors may have a vested interest in keeping everyone safe, but what’s the most they can do? Hire guards with guns? Surely criminals will be able to find a way around that problem.

All of this puts you in danger. A lot of danger. If they get robbed, the best-case scenario is that no one notices you or bothers you.

The worst-case scenario is that you end up getting robbed and hurt or killed.

Is it really worth having a little fun in a gaming room to put your life on the line?

Stay away from these places. Go to a legitimate casino where everything is above board.

Conclusion

Illegal gaming rooms can be attractive to gamblers who don’t have legalized gambling in their state, but they’re a recipe for disaster and can have a significant negative impact on your life.

Have you been to one of these places before? Let us know your experience in the comments.