MUNCIE – The executive director of the Indiana Gaming Commission said Monday the state “did not, and never had, any plans to take enforcement action” against a Muncie senior citizens group playing euchre in violation of state gaming laws.
And Gov. Mike Pence said through a spokesman Monday he not only had no plans to “shut down” the senior card games but would ask the gaming commission to “ensure common sense prevails” in its actions.
Nevertheless, last week’s contact from the state prompted euchre clubs at the Delaware County Senior Citizens Center to end the long-standing practice of pay-for-play and prizes at the three-times-weekly euchre games.
And the director of another Indiana senior center told The Star Press on Monday that prizes in her center’s euchre games were discontinued after similar concerns from the state.
“Something has to be done so a large part of the population can legally play cards,” Ruth Bosch of the Jennings County senior center said Monday. “The law has to be amended. If you are a fraternal or veterans group you can play, but at a senior center, where they contribute 50 cents toward a prize of a can of peaches, they can’t do it.
“They’re getting toilet paper and peaches and the state somehow sees this as a huge issue,” Bosch said. “It’s not a good law.”
A Star Press article posted online Sunday and in Monday’s print edition reported that the euchre groups at the senior center on West Eighth Street had, after last week’s contact from the state, discontinued the practice of members paying $2.50 to play euchre in a series of games that ended in winners getting cookies, cans of peaches, toilet paper or cleaning products as prizes.
Players and their relatives complained to The Star Press about the end of euchre prizes, saying it was taking the fun out of the games.