Powerhouse Club Won't Get Gambling License

The new owners of the well known poker club, Powerhouse Sporting Club is going to have to set a £250 gambling limit on their tables after losing their bit to win a gaming license.  The club has played heads up with the Gaming Commission at a licensing meeting that was held at Islington Town Hall on and lost.

The case comes after Derek Kelly, who used to run the club back when it as named the Gutshot Poker Club lost his appeal against the high court ruling that said poker was a game of chance and not skill.

In January of 2007, Kelly was found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Count on contravening the 1968 Gambling Act by hosting poker games there and was fined £10,000. 

Now the club is ran by the Powehouse Sporting Club and is already on the Gambling Commission's bad side.  The Commission says that they are trying to disguise the fact that they are a comercial enterprise by saying they are a club.

Powerhouse argued that they are a members club and that it was established "wholly or mainly" for purposes "other than for gaming".  The clubs also has chess, scrabble, backgammon and quiz nights.