The building on Philips Street, where the Kokomo River Club operated for the past 16 months, is now home only to a sign proclaiming it is available for rent.
Don Willis, 44, Noblesville, owner of the Kokomo River Club, said Wednesday the club closed about two weeks ago. The Lafayette River Club, also owned by Willis, closed in February.
Willis was charged last month in Marion County on two Class D felony charges of promoting professional gambling. The charges stemmed from a police investigation of the Indy River Club and the Castleton River Club. Both clubs are now closed.
The decision to close the Kokomo club was partly due to the recent passage of legislation allowing slot machines at Indiana’s two horse racing tracks in Anderson and Shelbyville.
“A lot of clubs in central Indiana closed when that bill was passed,” he said.
Willis intends to fight the promotion of professional gambling charges, insisting that poker is a game of skill, not chance.
“We are going to fight the charges,” he said. “We are bringing in poker professionals and authors to testify that Texas Hold’em is a game of skill.”
If he avoids conviction on charges, Willis said he might reopen the Kokomo club.
Willis said an effort will also be made to change state law that better defines the status of the clubs.
“Right now it is left up to personal opinion and opinions change,” he said.
Of the charges pending in Marion County, Willis said Texas Hold’em clubs were caught up in local politics.
“The mayor [of Indianapolis] and the police cracked down on the pea shake houses,” he said. “They complained they were being targeted, so the politically right thing to do was to go against the poker clubs.”
Willis said in Lafayette he met with the prosecutor in 2006 and was told there wasn’t a problem with the opening of a club.
“The newly-elected prosecutor didn’t like poker,” he said. “He sent us a letter that if we voluntarily closed there wouldn’t be a problem. But if we stayed open there would be a problem.”
The decision was to close all the clubs until after the criminal case is resolved, Willis said.
Willis has maintained the clubs are legal because players are required to pay a membership fee to play poker, the club then keeps 15 percent of each pot to pay rent, utility bills and employees.
In January the Howard County Health Department said the Kokomo River Club, 1233 W. Jackson St., was in violation because it didn't have a food permit.
The club was fined $750 for serving food without a permit.
Ken de la Bastide can be reached at (765) 454 -8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com
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