Now the Swedish cops bust a poker tournament

Hard on the heels of a similar police action in Ireland last week the Swedish police broke up a major poker tournament this week in Grebbestad.

Some 700 poker fans had gathered over the weekend to play in a major tournament billed the Euopean Poker Challenge 2007, but like the Irish event the Challenge evaporated as the police closed everything down. Two as yet unidentified men thought to be the organisers will face charges, according to Swedish authorities, who claim that hosting unauthorised poker tournaments for profit is considered illegal in Sweden.

Prosecutor Linn Scholander was taking a hard line on the arrested men, demanding that they should be detained in custody pending criminal trial, where they could face up to four years in a Swedish jail.

Entrants for the tournament, which was widely publicised had each paid a Euro 250 buy-in, making the EPC 2007 one of the biggest poker tournaments in Europe when it comes to the number of entrants. As we went to press it was unclear what would happen to the deposited cash.