John Campos Pleads Guilty and Poker Trial Won't Take Place

Payment processor John Campos pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge on Tuesday. This means that his highly anticipated trial which may have questioned the legality of online poker in the US will not take place.

According to Forbes, banker and online poker payment processor John Campos has pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge.

Campos' plea comes just one day after fellow payment processor Chad Elie pleaded guilty to conspiracy. The close proximity of their pleas is no coincidence, as the two men have taken nearly identical legal paths since they were indicted by the United States on April 15th, 2011.

Mr. Campos, formerly the Vice Chairman of the Board and a part owner of Sunfirst Bank in Utah, allegedly accepted significant payments for allowing offshore poker companies to conduct illegal transactions with Americans through his bank.

Although specific details of the plea are not yet available, the fact that Campos is only pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge means that he is likely to receive a light sentence relative to the other 4 payment processors who have also pleaded guilty.

Is the US avoiding a bigger decision?

Prior to this week, both John Campos and Chad Elie appeared ready to fight the charges against them in court. Their defense, originally outlined in their motions for dismissal from the case, would have argued heavily that gambling laws in the US are too vague to be used against them. Furthermore, they would have argued that poker sites are not clearly defined as "gambling businesses" according to US law.

The fact that the US prosecutors were willing to let Campos plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge may mean they wanted to avoid addressing those pro-poker arguments in court.

It is possible that Campos and Elie's attorneys were hoping this would happen all along. Their line of defense may have been used purely to provoke prosecutors into offering better deals for their clients, and not because they actually thought they would win in court.

Although Campos is likely happy with the deal he received, American poker players will have to wait until the future before the issues that matter to them are brought before a judge.

By Matt Kaufman