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.
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.
