Organizers of a campaign event benefiting Battle Ground City Councilman Mike Ciraulo’s bid for re-election have received a verbal warning from the Washington State Gambling Commission for operating a poker tournament fundraiser without a license.
Restaurateurs Mike Galeotti and Russell Brent received the warning last week for holding an unlicensed “poker night” Sept. 14 at a wine cellar adjacent to the former location of Galeotti’s Restaurant at East Main Street. Between 21 and 24 people attended the event, which raised more than $2,000 for Ciraulo’s re-election campaign, according to a report released by the gambling commission.
Ciraulo was not named in the commission’s verbal reprimand. Instead, the report says event organizers failed to secure the license necessary to hold a fundraising event featuring card games.
The event was widely promoted on Facebook, where posts to the “Vote Ciraulo” page touted the fundraiser’s $50 poker tournament buy-in, complimentary cigars from a local tobacco shop and “fine drinks.” But organizers ran afoul of the gambling commission after the agency received an anonymous tip about it last month.