MUNCIE – Two or three days a week, 88-year-old Berylda Wilson and her friends get together to play euchre at the Delaware County Senior Citizens Center.
But because they pay a couple of bucks to play and take home prizes like packs of cookies or toilet paper, they’re breaking Indiana law — and state officials have ordered an end to the illegal gambling.
The Indiana Gaming Commission last week contacted officials of the senior center — where the most common regular activities, besides euchre, include bridge and line dancing — and told them the pay-for-play must stop.
Senior center officials scrambled to comply and notified the 50 or so euchre players that the days of “Vegas on West Eighth Street” were over.
Center officials are worried about the potential loss of rent from the euchre players, but players like Wilson and her daughter are left shaking their heads.
“It gives them some excitement,” said Wilson’s daughter, Karla Lance. In other words, Wilson and her fellow euchre players aren’t in it for the canned peaches that have been offered as prizes.
The law is the law, and Indiana law says card games like poker and euchre are considered gambling if played for money.
Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold said he was unaware of the gaming commission’s contact with the senior center.