Are home poker games legal in Ontario, Canada?

Question

My friend's hubby is thinking of dealing poker in his garage when they move into their new home. Is there some website I could go to read the rules and laws?

Answer 1

As long as there is no rake it is legal.

Technically you can't even have a game in a bar with no rake because the extra business will be sufficient to make it illegal. The precedent is a cigar store that had a game with no rake but the extra cigar sales was sufficient. Many bars have games now and nothing happens but technically it could.

Collecting a small amount for pizza or delivery is fine (sorry can't quote the case law)

Now if he wants to run a game in his garage then I assume he wants to make money so will want to take a rake. As long as he keeps it small and quiet he'll be fine. It is illegal to run a raked game but not a high priority for the police.

Edit: Criminal law is federal not provincial and so what you'd be looking for is s.197-201 of the Canadian Criminal Code.

All Canadian legislation is online. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/ is the Criminal Code but you'd be much better off reading what is called an Annotated Criminal Code such as Tremeear’s or Martin's Canadian Criminal Code. Annotated statutes will have all the legislation plus a page or two on every section explaining how the court has dealt with and interpreted that section in plain English. You can find multiple copies of Martin's at any law school library which are open to the public. Just ask to borrow Martin's Criminal Code at the reference desk and leave behind your driver's licence or some other piece of ID. Maybe a public library in a big city might have a copy but these books are fairly expensive and rather specialized. Obviously they are not online or else no one would pay the insane price Carswell charges for them.