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Charities Hold Card Gambling Fundraisers More Than Ever The Texas Hold’em card gambling craze that has swept over the U.S. in the past few years has created a new trend: charities are now seeking to harness the tournaments’ money- making potential. Long- standing and successful charities
such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation have decided that card gambling
tournaments are much more helpful in raising money than the
traditional fundraising events like golf and 5K races. Some charities even flout state rules in order to run the card gambling tournaments. In Pennsylvania, for example, card gambling for a profit is against the law, but dozens of charity groups hold tournaments in which a percentage of wagers go to the charity, and a portion to the winners. Lawmakers in California, Texas, Virginia, and South Dakota have taken steps to work with the charity groups rather than against them, and have proposed new legislation to allow card gambling and other gaming. Delaware, Oregon, and Maine have already passed laws allowing charity card gambling. Some people, however, point out that using card gambling to raise money for charity may be counterproductive- in some cases, the games may go against the very purpose of the charity. They point out that many gamblers who frequent the card gambling games do so strictly because this is the only local legal gambling available to them, and not because they wish to support the charity.
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