Blackjack Tournaments in Chicago

Main Event Charity Games is holding Blackjack Tournaments at every event in the Chicago area. These are legal games hosted by licensed non-profits. 80% of the tournament cost goes back to the Players in the form of prize money. Tournaments usually consist of 3 or more rounds of 30 hands.

Go to http://www.MainEventCharityGames.com for more info.

 

The link had a typo. I apologize for that but it's fine now. The Buy In/Entry breakdown is the same as Poker Tournaments. If the Buy In / Entry Fee is $100 (cost), 80% ($80) goes back to the Players and 20% ($20) goes to the Charity in the form of an Entry Fee. The breakdown can be more or less depending on the cost of the tournament, but generally the breakdown is 80/20.

The correct link is http://www.MainEventCharityGames.com . The next scheduled Blackjack Tournament is September 11th at 5:00 pm in Chicago.

 

Toolman, why the attitude? These are legitimate, legal games. If you don't like the split simply don't play.

In Illinois there is legislature called the Illinois Charitable Games Act which gives non-profits a license to basically be a casino 4 times a year. Look it up. Players win cash. They are not "charity events", where all you can win are prizes donated by merchants, as you describe. Main Event Charity Games works with them to put these events on. Up to now the events have all been poker, but are now expanding out to offer Blackjack Tournaments.

Every event is hosted by a different charity organization.

 

On September 10th the charity is Rotary Club of Blue Island/Alsip; On September 11, the charity is East Village Youth Program; on September 25th it is Luther North H.S. Alumni; on October 2nd it is Crosswinds Equine Rescue, Inc; on October 9th it is Rotary Club of Blue Island/Alsip again.

Licensing paperwork is being prepared for dates extending past October 9th.

Every charity is required to have their license posted in clear view at every event. Every license must also be sent (faxed) to the police department who has jurisdiction, prior to the event.

 

This thing may very well be legitimate.

I can't speak for Illinois, but in Michigan the State will grant charity gambling licenses for a very short-term period - think of a 3-day weekend, for example. Since each charity is allowed a highly limited number of licenses per year, some folks who run these things seek out numerous worthy causes and has them obtain the license in return for the proceeds.

The primary reason I was absent from Ignace last month was because Deb and I were helping operate such an event. We had 15 blackjack tables and 2 poker tables operating Friday evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday afternoon. This particular Festival has been in operation for decades:

http://www.ypsilantiheritagefestival.com/beerandgaming.htm

This year, the charity was the operating expenses of the Festival itself. Donations from local merchants help keep this thing free of any admission fee for all, but those donations were down a ton this year (probably due to Michigan's horrible economy). In the past, we have raised thousands for various kid's causes and other local groups.

Anyway, I'd cut this guy a little slack and see how it all turns out. If you really doubt him, I'm sure a perusal of Illinois' state website would prove whether he is legit - or not.

 

OK. I'll go one better. I've deleted all my posts to this thread. If MainEventJohn and you will edit your posts and delete all reference to me then all will be as if I never entered this conversation.

 

Geez, a little severe, weren't you?

I didn't have any references to you in my one post.

 

Nothing personal.

This thread is simply not working for me so I decided to end my involvement.

 

Blackjack Tournament on Sat September 11

East Village Youth Program will be running a Blackjack Tournament on Sat Sept 11 beginning at 5:00 pm at Cy's Crab House 3819 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago

$60 + $5 Optional Add On for 1,000 extra chips. Maximum number of players will be 21. Top 2 will be paid. $48 goes to prize pool. Rounds of 30 hands. Number of rounds will depend on the number of players.

Go to MainEventCharityGames.com to pre-register. Pre-registration is FREE. You don't have to pre-pay, but pre-registering will hold a seat for you.

 

Just a suggestion, John. By my math, if you fill the field at 21 players you'll have a prize pool of $1,008. Paying only the top 2 players would be a serious deterrent to my showing up (if the distance issue wasn't already present). You could pay all 6 finalists if you paid $400-$200-$150-$110-$80-$68 or something similar. More folks would win something and feel encouraged to return for another one.

P.S. Where does the $5 for the add-on go?

 

You make a good point LeftNut. It appears, Blackjack players favor a different payout structure than poker players. In the poker tournaments, our charities started out with a "bottom heavy" payout structure, as you suggest, but the poker players preferred only the top 10% to make the money, so we changed it. In setting up the Blackjack Tournaments we used the same "top heavy" structure, not knowing Blackjack Players would favor a different payout structure.

It makes no difference to the charities or to us how many positions are paid. Whatever players want is what we always do. If the Blackjack players favor more positions to make the money then more positions will be paid out.

The add-on goes to the Dealers.

 

Many - heck, even most - BJ tournaments pay a badly top-loaded prize fund simply because that's the way it's always been done. This may have misled you into thinking that's how the players want it, but the majority do not. Most really don't like seeing half (or more!) of the prize money going to only one player. What ends up happening is the players start cutting chop deals on the side, forced into making deals with strangers in order to even out the prize payouts themselves - and hoping that those strangers are trustworthy folk who won't screw them later. It's the casinos/promoters who are the root cause of this activity by their insistence on top-loading the prize money so severely. Hence my suggestion to even out your own prize list, and best of luck to you with your BJT's!

 

Anybody played in one of these??

I see there have been a couple of these events in Chicago, with blackjack tournaments scheduled as part of them, during the past month. I have not been able to attend. Anyone play in them and care to give a report?

thanks, Jonny

 

Sounds fishy

I would agree with toolman here. Having run chairitible events for over 30 years have never come across anything like this before. However up in Illinois it may be legal. I would check before playing in any of the events though.

As leftnut pointed out they have held events in Michigan for years, my question is are they legal or just allowed? Think about all the in state college football riveries and for that matter out of state matches, where (for example Texas vs. Oklahoma governors publicly bet on the game, it's just a friendly little bet and no one cares). However IT'S ILLEGAL! How is it done, simple no one complains. How is Fantasy football legal? What skill is involved there, none! you just pick players and hope your players produce the best on game day, but it is allowed and they play for some BIG money. Hell they even have Fantasy football shows on TV, (ESPN and Fox Sports) and CBS, ESPN, have web sites for several fantasy sports now.

Now if Illinois past a chairitable act that allows these events to be held 4 times per year so be it, but sounds stupid as hell to me. That means every non-profit organiztion can hold a casino night or casino tournaments 4 times a year? How many non-profits are there in Illinois? That would be a lot of events and I can't see the casino's being to pleased with this.

Mainevent John The $5 add-on should go as part of the chairities. If 80% goes to the chairity is the $5 add-on's part of that money, it should be anyway. I'm sure the State would love to hear you are just doing your own little add-on's!

The prize structure is an eazy fix, however top heavy events for you would be the best draw because they will only be for locals only and not trying to draw players from out of state. Tournaments have to offer enough to make player's interested in coming, more payout's only work "IF" the prize pool is big enough to offer enough to go around.

Do you get the extra 20%? Do you get paid anything else besides the 20% if yes? Is there a cover charge to get in to play? Is there a fee of any kind to hold or resever a seat? Do you sell drinks and food at these events? If so all those sells should be included for the chairity as well in my oppinion.

If all this is on the up and up, I may need to move to the Chicago area myself and start running these events, sounds like a great gig! Before I do I'll check with the local DA, State DA, and U.S. DA offices before packing my bags and equipment.

THis REALLY interest's me! What restrictions are inforce here? Do you have to have cameras covering each table? Are the dealers licenced, what happen's on a mis-deal? How much control do dealers have? Are dealers allowed to deal to family members or friends? These are all questions to ask before playing in any type of event like this.

I hope this is 100% legit, if so I'll be seeing you soon...;-)

After I talk to the powers that be I'll post to let everyone know if I'm moving north or not.

 

I'll only respond to one part of Tx's post, let others have at the rest of it. Yes, they are quite legal in Michigan and, in fact, you must have a charitable gaming license issued by the State to run it. I'm guessing that Illinois has a similar (if not identical) situation.

 

Can't stop thinking about this....

No just doesn't make ANY SENSE, I WILL CHECK INTO THIS MORE TOMORROW!

The more I think about this thread the more it is driving me CRAZY! Surely the state of Illinois is not that stupid to just allow these events. there has to be an outline (VERY OUTLINED) to prevent crooked events from taking place.

Just imagine A promoter hosting an event, BIG EVENT for $50,000 or so. They ar egoing to get 20% ($10,000) plus the extra $5 add-on's for the dealers, now they have several friends, family playing and they coul dbring in marked cards or have dealers mis-deal on hands where someone they didn't want to advance hit a big hand.

A crooked promoter could take more like 90% of the prize pool. Something like this happened in AZ years back. Players could bankroll blackjack tables and I heard all kind of stories where mechanics made small fortunes, even on small games. This is just an accident waiting to happen. I think even if the state did or does allow this it will be changed very soon.

Mainevent John, I never accused you of any wrong doing and hope for your sake everything is on the up and up, but if I was you I'd re-check of the $5 add-on's you've been taken in, that just doesn't sound legit at all.

 

Illinois and government

My guess is that the state government has no rules or guidelines per se, the special permits or licenses are given to reputable charities and organizations and as long as there are no complaints made about the "rake" taken by the promoter everyone lives happily ever after.
Remember, this is Illinois, so the politicians may get a little stipend too!

Billy C

 

Unbelievable...

Here is just a small part from the Illinois Charitable games act.


(230 ILCS 30/8) (from Ch. 120, par. 1128) Sec. 8. The conducting of charitable games is subject to the following restrictions:
(1) The entire net proceeds from charitable games must be exclusively devoted to the lawful purposes of the organization permitted to conduct that game.

I'm not sure where you are getting the 80%/20% split?

(2) No person except a bona fide member or employee of the sponsoring organization, or a volunteer recruited by the sponsoring organization, may participate in the management or operation of the game. A person participates in the management or operation of a charitable game when he or she sells admission tickets at the event; sells, redeems, or in any way assists in the selling or redeeming of chips, scrip, or play money; participates in the conducting of any of the games played during the event, or supervises, directs or instructs anyone conducting a game; or at any time during the hours of the charitable games event counts, handles, or supervises anyone counting or handling any of the proceeds or chips, scrip, or play money at the event. A person who is present to ensure that the games are being conducted in conformance with the rules established by the licensed organization or is present to insure that the equipment is working properly is considered to be participating in the management or operation of a game. Setting up, cleaning up, selling food and drink, or providing security for persons or property at the event does not constitute participation in the management or operation of the game. Only bona fide members, volunteers as defined in Section 2 of this Act, and employees of the sponsoring organization may participate in the management or operation of the games. Participation in the management or operation of the games is limited to no more than 4 charitable games events, either of the sponsoring organization or any other licensed organization, during a calendar year.


According to the law you are not allowed to have any more then one person from your group on location. So this being said who does the dealing for you? Are you telling me inexperienced dealers are dealing for the tournaments?

(3) No person may receive any remuneration or compensation either directly or indirectly from any source for participating in the management or operation of the game.

Mainevent John are you putting on these events for free?

(4) No single bet at any game may exceed $10.

Since an entry fee would be considered a bet here how big have your prize pool's been. Please tell me you're not taking higher entry fees then allowed?

(6) At the conclusion of the event or when the participant leaves, he may cash in his chips, scrip, or play money in exchange for currency not to exceed $250 or noncash prizes. Each participant shall sign for any receipt of prizes. The licensee shall provide the Department of Revenue with a listing of all prizes awarded, including the retail value of all prizes awarded.

$250 the biggest amount allowed, have you awarded any higher amounts?

(8) Unless the provider of the premises is a municipality, the provider of the premises may not rent or otherwise provide the premises for the conducting of more than 8 charitable games nights per year.

Are these events held at your location? If so only a total of 8 may be held per year, how many have you held?

(11) No one other than the sponsoring organization of charitable games must have a proprietary interest in the game promoted.

Again are you making a profit from these events?

(12) Raffles or other forms of gambling prohibited by law shall not be conducted on the premises where charitable games are being conducted.

Only events we could find is for Casino Night, tournaments were not listed as an option. Did you have an attorney check for you before starting to host these events?

(15) Each licensee may offer or conduct only the games listed below, which must be conducted in accordance with rules posted by the organization. The organization sponsoring charitable games shall promulgate rules, and make printed copies available to participants, for the following games: (a) roulette; (b) blackjack; (c) poker; (d) pull tabs; (e) craps; (f) bang; (g) beat the dealer; (h) big six; (i) gin rummy; (j) five card stud poker; (k) chuck-a-luck; (l) keno; (m) hold-em poker; and (n) merchandise wheel. A licensee need not offer or conduct every game permitted by law. The conducting of games not listed above is prohibited by this Act.

Again games are listed, tournaments are not.

(20) A supplier may have only one representative present at the charitable games event, for the exclusive purpose of ensuring that its equipment is not damaged.

So by this rule, only you are allowed to be present. So again who is dealing these events?

(21) No employee, owner, or officer of a consultant service hired by a licensed organization to perform services at the event including, but not limited to, security for persons or property at the event or services before the event including, but not limited to, training for volunteers or advertising may participate in the management or operation of the games.

Please explain how you can run a tournament when it states that above you're not allowed to do so?

Now only one violation from the above would make your tournaments illegal. near as I can see you have several of them and this is just a very small part of the Illinois Charitable gaming act.

I contacted the State of Illinois Attorney Generals Office check on the legalities of your tournaments. I am sure you actually thought you were doing nothing wrong, but as you can see you have been commenting several violations and suggest you either correct the issues mentioned before conducting any more of your events.

I was hoping it was 100% legit, I would have moved up there in a heart beat to start hosting my owe events.


Mainevent John I really wish you well, but I've been doing the charitable casino thing along with the real tournaments at casino's (land based and on cruise ship's) for over 30 years and it not as simple as one thinks. I can also tell you using the defence "Well their doing over there" is NOT a defence. You better know what your doing or be prepared to pay a big fine, do time or both.

Before I ever host an event I contact all the power's that be from local up to federal level and if drinks are on location you better check with the state alcohol commission as well. I actually invite local vice and alcohol control to my events to supervise to avoid any problems.

Wish I had better new's for you.

 

It's legal to host a charitable event anywhere in the country as far as I know. My concern was the way it was being run. As you can see from my above post Mainevent John hasn't been following the rules. These are the type of people that ruin it for the rest of us that follow the rules.

Just most of these companies try to bend the rules and justify them so they can make more money. It doesn't work that way, follow the rules or it's illegal.

 

Tex,
Putting a little money in the right place makes a lot of rules and regulations go away.

Billy C