Authorities have asked local bars to voluntarily shut down poker games by the end of the month.

The games count as gambling and are illegal, Cheyenne Police Chief Bob Fecht said. Both the city attorney and the state's attorney general agree with the decision, he said.

Bar poker games are also being shut down in Laramie and Casper, Fecht said.

The games are a statewide problem, said Tom Montoya, chief of enforcement for the Wyoming Liquor Division. But he said there isn't a statewide consensus about what constitutes gambling under the criminal code.

State law allows social gambling, but it becomes a problem when poker games are taken out of the home and into a bar, he said.

Montoya said when bars start to turn a profit, even if it's indirectly, it becomes professional gambling.

Bars likely profit indirectly in drink sales when they bring in the poker crowd, but the question hasn't been formally answered, he said.

"Hopefully, through the attorney general's office and the Legislature, we'll get clarification," he said.

Games were recently shut down at Snake River Pub and Grill, said Troy Meeks, the establishment's general manager. He said several bars have hosted games for months, and Snake River followed the same guidelines.

He added that the gray area in the law has created confusion and that he would like to see the matter sorted out in the Legislature.

"I want to play by the rules," he said.

Games also were shut down at Two Bar Bowling, owner Myron Langhoff said. He said that poker games had been going on at his establishment for six months without any problems.

Before starting the games, he called the Cheyenne Police Department to see if there would be a problem.

"We were told as long as we didn't make any direct profit there's nothing wrong with the game itself," he said.