Advice for new club

[msaban]

Hello I've been invited to be on a committee to move our local friday night poker school into a registered poker club. Currently we meet at a local club every friday, play NL holdem, small buyins - £6, £5 goes towards prize money and the other £1 goes towards buffet, new cards, tables, chips etc. I think the buyin is probably at the right level to attract people. No money is on tables, buy chips before hand, the cash is then professionally sorted into half pint glasses ready for payout The place probably has potential to fit 150 at once, I think we've had about 40 as a maximum and regularly about 20 -30. This is not yet advertised just word of mouth. ANyway to get to my point, the landlord has seen the potential for him to take a few quid over the bar with this, so is willing to help set it up properly, making it a members only club, membership cards, proper advertising, registering it with the council - the works. I have got a few ideas and obviously it wont be done to make profit for anyone in the pokerclub all monies will be put back in to either new equipment or added to prize monies to make bigger tourneys.Possibly try and have sateillites where the winner will be bought into a bigger tourney at the local casino ( sheffield 20 miles away), maybe even try and get sponsorship to add to a tourney to make it more attractive to potential new members etc etc ANyway question to you guys - has anybody been involved with setting up a local club similar to this, and can advise on any pitfalls you may have faced, or any ideas to attract members. Thanks Mike

[GaF]

Re: Advice for new club Good luck - sounds like a fun project. Afraid I've no experience of live poker, so can't help, but let us know how it goes.....

[Burt Saddo]

Re: Advice for new club No experience at all Mike but where abouts in Derbyshire is your club based?

[msaban]

Re: Advice for new club Hi Burt We're in Whitwell, which is a village in between Worksop and Clowne near Chesterfield. I forgot to mention - we're not trying to build a casino here, just make it a bit more organised and run properly rather than an oversized home game CHeers Mike

[Valiant23]

Re: Advice for new club msaban I accept all that you say is true, but you could be getting into a minefield. I run a successful fund-raiser for my footy team, and I was very concerned (as the organiser) regarding tax and licensing issues. I would imagine the 'expansion' may change the nature of the poker club in a way that would mean a lot of unwanted(?) attention and red-tape. I posted here for advice. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=8008 This was the relevant bit.

Ok, first of all, has anyone ever typed a really long post only to lose it? :-[ Right, I got in touch with the relevant person at my council and talked for about 15 mins about my fund-raiser. I took the stance that I expected there to be a provision for it under law(because I beleived there would be), and the council spent 15 minutes explaining why that wasn't the case. In the 1st draft of this post I explained in detail the arguments I was given, and having typed it all out I aren't sure I'll remember them in the right order, but here goes... 1-It may seem like gambling, but people are invited to join in on a private basis, and it is not done for 'personal gain'(this term includes fund-raising for a poorly person who needs specialist treatment/equipment, and would receive 'personal gain' from any fund-raising done on their behalf-crazy). 2-Although the 'chances' are sold in advance, there is an element of skill involved, unlike a raffle where it is totally left to chance. 3-500 clubs. I think this is what is termed as a 'private lottery' Certain conditions have to be met, one of them being you may only sell chances to members of a club AND their direct families. According to my loc.auth. they do not require licensing. As I've already explained, my fund-raiser is similar to all 3, yet I think the loc. auth. rep. beleived it to be different enough not to be covered by legislation as it stands. Whilst this phone conversation reassured me greatly, I think I will make a detailed written proposal to the relevant dept., in the hope that it will force the council to reply in writing that the information/advice I received on the phone was correct. Thanks Savvy, as I wouldn't've got in touch with them were it not for you. If anyone who reads this is interested in my fund-raiser, and thinks it will help their organisation, please pm me and I'll see if I can help(obviously for free), as long as its not against forum rules.

Basically, the best people to help are at your local authority, although I have no idea what happens regarding the particular venues' licence, that could be the biggest stumbling block. HTH :ok - and my fee is 1 nights entrance. ;)

[msaban]

Re: Advice for new club Thanks for your tips Valiant