Pro Poker Player James Kerr Laundered $800K from Illegal Games, Cops Say

Posted on: April 8, 2025, 01:42h. 

Last updated on: April 8, 2025, 01:54h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • James Kerr, 39, is a professional poker player with nearly $700K in legal winnings
  • Authorities allege Kerr laundered more than $800K from an illegal poker operation
  • Kerr allegedly ran high-stakes games from a former law office in Winter Haven, Fla.

A professional poker player from Florida is facing money laundering charges after prosecutors accused him of running an illegal gambling house in Winter Haven, Fla.

James Kerr, poker player, illegal gambling, money laundering, Winter Haven
James Kerr, above, following his $228K win at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Classic in February 2021. He was arrested following a tip-off that he was organizing illegal poker games. (Image: Seminole Hard Rock Tampa)

On the poker circuit, James Kerr, 39, has gross tournament earnings of $687,248, according to the Hendon Mob database. These include a $228,038 score for a first-place finish at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Poker Classic.

But authorities claim he was also running clandestine, illegal poker games, mainly from a former law office in Winter Haven, south of Orlando. He made around $800K from these operations, according to prosecutors.

We learned that James Kerr was running a big-time operation and making hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told Tampa Bay’s Fox 13.

“Now keep in mind he’s also a professional gambler. If you search him up online, you’ll see he’s won a lot of money legally gambling. But guess what? He became greedy and decided to set up his own illegal game. That’s when he got arrested,” the sheriff explained.

Undercover Operation

Following a tip-off, undercover detectives were able to infiltrate the game. Investigators claim that from 2021 to 2023, Kerr made multiple transactions among various bank accounts to conceal $833,478 in illicit profits over three years.

Kerr was arrested Tuesday, April 1, and charged with three counts of money laundering in excess of $100K, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

At a hearing this week, a Polk County Court judge imposed a $60K bail and ordered Kerr to wear a GPS monitor should he post bail.

Poker Players in Hot Water

Kerr is the latest in a string of poker players to recently find themselves in legal trouble. In December, WSOP bracelet winner Corey Zeidman pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York to defrauding customers in his sports handicapping business.

Federal prosecutors said Zeidman and his co-defendants duped customers to pay for betting advice by claiming to have insider knowledge, “only to feed them lies and pocket millions of dollars from their savings and retirement accounts.”

Meanwhile, Tom Goldstein, a top lawyer who moonlit as an “ultra-high-stakes poker player,” has been accused of avoiding paying $5.3 million in taxes on his poker winnings.

Goldstein is believed to have won more than $50 million in a series of heads-up matches against wealthy businessmen in Asia and California from 2016 to 2021 — winnings he failed to declare to the IRS, according to prosecutors.