The state agency that regulates legalized gambling in Connecticut is echoing Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's statement that barroom poker tournaments are illegal.

The state Division of Special Revenue issued a statement Wednesday after getting several inquiries.

"We got so many calls from bar owners that we felt we had to put something out there," Paul Bernstein, a spokesman for the division, said.

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The statement cited both criminal laws and state-tribal agreements that grant Connecticut's two Indian casinos the exclusive right to run almost every commercial game, including poker.

The repeal of the so-called Las Vegas Nights law in January 2003 was also part of that effort, said Bernstein. Those laws allowed nonprofit groups and churches to use games, including poker, to raise money for a cause.

"There are prices that have to be paid if the state doesn't want a third casino," said Bernstein.

Blumenthal welcomed the statement, although he said the ban had nothing to do with tribal concerns. He cited a criminal law that prohibits any form of gambling in which the participants do not have "a bona fide social relationship."

The law classifies gambling as a criminal misdemeanor unless all the players can prove they are friends or co-workers who see each other away from poker tables.

Source: Associated Press