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A controversial poker room in Madison, Wisconsin will close next month.

Ho Chunk Poker Room Closing Table

According to isthmus.com, Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison indicated that it will close its eight-table electronic poker room on Nov. 15.

Ho Chunk Poker Room Closing Date

The poker room has been open for four years.

Ho Chunk Poker Room Closing Costs

Electronic poker tables do not involve physical cards, chips or dealers. A touch-screen system is used to facilitate the game.

According to the report, Wisconsin has been trying to shut the room down, saying that
it violated a gaming compact between the tribe and the state.

From the report:

U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb agreed in June and ordered the room’s removal, but the tribe appealed a month later…The [closure] announcement comes two months after two local players asked a Dane County judge to rule whether poker is actually legal in Wisconsin. The state currently forbids playing poker for money outside of about a dozen tribal-run casinos. But the players argue the game relies more on skill than luck and therefore skirts a state statute about what constitutes a “bet.”

Crabb concurred with the state’s Department of Justice’s assertion that PokerPro, the video poker game, was a Class III card game, which is forbidden under the terms of the gambling compact with the Southeast Side casino. While the state claimed that PokerPro was too similar to blackjack and slots, the tribe argued it was legal because the players wager against each other, not against the house.

The largest poker room in the state is a 20-table room at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.

Seth Jovaag

Several signs inside the poker room at Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison announce the room will close by Nov. 15.

Local poker players will have one less place to play next month, as Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison has signaled it will close its electronic poker room.

Posters seen Thursday night at the far east side casino, formerly known as the Dejope Bingo Hall, say the eight-table poker room will shut down Nov. 15.

The reason for the closure is unclear. Staff directed calls to the casino's executive director, Dan Brown, who could not be reached for comment. Attempts to reach Ho-Chunk Nation leaders in Black River Falls were not immediately successful.

The casino opened the poker room in November 2010. Players compete against each other using a touch-screen system but there are no physical cards, chips or dealers.

For three years, the state waged a legal battle to shut it down, arguing that poker at the Madison casino violates gaming compacts between the state and tribe. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb agreed in June and ordered the room's removal, but the tribe appealed a month later.

Ho-Chunk's attorneys did not respond to emails, and state Department of Justice spokesperson Dana Brueck said she did not know if Crabb's ruling influenced the closing.

Some local players speculated on a private Facebook group that the room wasn't profitable enough to stay open. Brown hinted that was the case when he told Isthmus in July that the room was more of an 'amenity' for patrons than a money maker.

Ho Chunk Poker Room Closing

The announcement comes two months after two local players asked a Dane County judge to rule whether poker is actually legal in Wisconsin. The state currently forbids playing poker for money outside of about a dozen tribal-run casinos. But the players argue the game relies more on skill than luck and therefore skirts a state statute about what constitutes a 'bet.'

Brueck said Thursday the state expects to file its response to that suit soon.