The poker landscape is changing--again.

I don't usually post twice in one day, but sometimes something is so weird and remarkable that it has to be documented.

I have posted often about the trouble that I have getting information, and the problems with state of Michigan regulation of charity poker rooms.  The situation has changed again, and it's a new wrinkle.

The state doesn't provide much information about the tournaments.  It just gives the city and address of the room.  I don't always know if the room runs tournaments, since some rooms only deal cash games.

My local room used to be called The Big Game Room,  The company still operates under that name. They had a standalone poker room in an area strip mall.  Then the state regulations changed so that a charity room could not be open in one location more than four days a week. The Big Game Room, as well as poker operations in other cities, offered games in more than one location so that they could be legally open seven days a week.

A couple months later, one of the local rooms closed, so in my city we only have live tournaments four days a week.  Two weeks ago, the state of Michigan list of charity poker licenses showed  a second room open in a local bar. After some investigating, I found out that this was a new second location for The Big Game Room.  Nothing on the the web site of the bar or The Big Game Room mentioned any of this, in fact, The Big Game Room web site has not been updated in a long time and they still advertise poker in the room that has been closed for more than two months.

So, more investigating, and a few minutes ago The Big Game Room told me that yes, they are going to have an operation in the bar that I asked about, but not until August.  I told the dealer (I recognized his voice) that according to the state web site, they are offering poker in that bar each of the next three days.  He told me that the state has it wrong--the poker room won't be open until August, and he had "no idea" why the state would think otherwise.

This is all very strange.  The state web site only lists poker rooms that have been licensed to offer poker, and each day requires a separate license.  So the state says they have granted three licenses for The Big Game Room to operate this week, and TBGR says that they know nothing about it.

This is a big deal because I depend on these charity rooms.  I live more than 100 miles from the nearest casino that offers poker tournaments.

The poker landscape in Michigan is so weird that I don't even know who to believe in a situation like this.  There is so much wrong with this situation that I barely know how to start, but I'll give it a try.

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Why are the charity poker rooms so heavily regulated?  What gives the state of Michigan the right to tell a privately owned business how many days a week they can be open in the same location?

Why is the state of Michigan granting licenses one day at a time?  Typical government ineffieciency--if a room is open three or four days a week, why not just grant one license which covers those days? I'm guessing that it's a money grab, with every daily license requiring a fee.

Why has The Big Game Room gone for months without updating their website?  I played a tournament there today.  Why was there no written information and no announcement of the new site made?

Why would the state issue licenses for this week if The Big Game Room did not apply for those licenses?

None of it makes any sense.