Poker is a game for all players from all around the world. With tournaments making poker champions, it’s unlikely for you to stay a week without hearing of a new millionaire every other week. However, many more people play poker just for fun, and there is no better way than doing it with friends. Still, with the Covid19 restrictions coming in, it’s impossible to not only meet up but also throw in a round of poker.  

Police in Birmingham have released footage of 26 people who have been arrested while playing poker illegally. The footage from a body camera showed at least six police officers arriving at a scene. After being called in, following reports of people, more than five were assembled inside a house together. 

The information that came in the morning’s wee hours geared them to action where you can see the police were arriving at the home in Birmingham. It comes barely a few hours after the fines on gatherings were introduced in which everyone is fined £800 per person for breaking restrictions.

It comes at the backdrop of the latest coronavirus laws coming into effect to crack down on illegal gatherings during the pandemic period. The seriousness of the crime is compounded after items found in the flat pointed to the alleged crime of unlawful poker game, which would not happen if they played online poker instead. 

The penalty of fines increases by £600 if the groups of people congregating together are more than 15 people. The fine then doubles with each subsequent offense reaching a maximum of £6,400 for serial offenders. 

Authorities have been campaigning, stating that the fines work as a deterrent for people seeking to meet family and friends during the pandemic, saying it’s all for the best if they restrain themselves.

However, home secretary Priti Patel was quick to add that it should go without saying that people should not meet up to ensure everyone is kept safe and survives after the pandemic. 

Officers who gained entry into the flat reiterated what the home secretary said in the briefing. In a heated conversation with the offenders, one policeman pointed out angrily saying.

“This is a clear breach of the restrictions pertaining Coronavirus rules. It’s ridiculous when more than 1500 people die almost daily.”

Another one added, “All of you are going to be fined.”

One of the offenders, seemingly disagreeing with the officers, said they are tired of the lockdown like restrictions and decided to have a little party. It pissed off the officers more as they quickly replied that everyone was fed up but not behaving like that. 

Investigations are continuing as the officers are out to look for the organizers of the event. However, the £10,000 penalty for unlawful groups will not be applying to them as they have four fewer people of the required 30 people for it to be applicable. The money could have been comfortably used as payment for their first poker online game with friends, where there is a possibility of winning massively with online gambling.

 The rule also applies to “educational accommodations,” covering all people under it. It means the group offenders still have to pay the fines even as students on an educational retreat.

Relief comes by to those willing to pay the fine within 14 days, as the penalty is cut by half and will only pay £400.

Human rights watchdogs sound an alarm like Adam Wagner, who is against the police being given access to test and trace data regarding Coronavirus. In his studies, it states that police access granted on records regarding those breaking and regulations may be violated by the police in other aspects.

Speaking on the same case about the 26 arrested playing poker, he pointed out that police are likely to look into other warrants open not related to Covid19 and to “punish” further those breaking laws put in place. 

Considering it is a breach of limits on the police part, the law has been found faulty as some errors uploaded into the databases have been found impossible to remove. It will negatively impact the people fined in the future as they are permanent records.

 Health secretary Matt Hancock is looking to sign off amendments to self-isolation laws to correct the police’s unhinged access to the test and trace database. The police will only be allowed to access information and share it only on pandemic grounds and not anything more. As it is now, anyone in government can be allowed to access the information, breaching privacy rules as listed in the constitution.

Twitter users following the amendments of the law are questioning the rules first put in place, recapping human rights activists who are wondering just how far the police are going to go with the information that is available to them. 

Many of them stating that in this case, they were only allowed to arrest and charge them on the grounds of breaking covid19 restrictions but with the sets of poker sets found, will they be fined for the illegal gambling too? 

 It sparked further debate online roping in government officials in the conversation, stating that the person who was in charge of the gathering should not be considered a poker agent in this case.  

All were in agreement, though, that if they wished for it, they could have quickly gone into contact with each other to play online poker by using a legal poker agent if they wanted to see, speak and even play a game against each other. 

Many more could not let the matter rest joking that if indeed they had registered to play poker online, they would even have gotten an online welcome bonus. And in the end, one of them could have been an online poker champion.