There's no wiggle room. All these clubs are done. Going after money laundering and organized crime charges...felonies...is how the DA's office has been tackling gambling as of late. This is the same way they've been prosecuting big game room operations.

I'll repost the DA's quote again...

"Poker rooms are illegal in the State of Texas," District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted."

There's a link to abc news 2 posts up.

Any guesses on the conversion value of Prime chips to Clivedollars?

I bet it's higher than the prepaid time left on my Prime card!

Every news channel has confirmed it.
Prime & Post Oak hit today.

Mint is the most recent.

What does this mean? Mint was raided as well? Isn't Mint in Webster?

The full story from channel 2 below

HOUSTON - Nine people were arrested Wednesday as authorities raided two poker rooms in Houston during a money laundering investigation, prosecutors said.

The raids happened at the Post Oak Poker Club at 1001 West Loop South and the Prime Social Poker Club at 7801 Westheimer Road.


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At the Westheimer Road location, both local and federal officials could be seen removing computers, hard drives, cameras and surveillance video equipment from the building. Video from SKY2 showed multiple police cruisers at the scene.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the owners and operators of the establishments that claimed to be legal under state law were arrested and the bank accounts were frozen.

Daniel Kebort, William Heuer III, Alan Chodrow, Sergio Cabrera and Kevin Chodrow were each arrested as part of the investigation at the Post Oak Poker Club, prosecutors said. Dean Maddox, Mary Switzer, Brent Pollack and Steven Farshid were arrested as part Prime Social Poker Club investigation, prosecutors said.

“Poker rooms are illegal in the state of Texas,” Ogg said in a written statement. “We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted.”

"We cannot allow illegal gambling to go on," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a written statement. "It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity.

The Post Oak Poker Club opened in 2017 and was one of the first such establishments in Houston. Owners said the business was legal because the club took in no money from any of the games.

According to Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code, gambling is against the law unless the following conditions are met:

1. The player is in a private place.
2. No one profits from hosting the game.
3. The risk of losing and chances of winning are the same for all participants.

The Texas attorney general was asked last year to give an opinion on the legality of such businesses, but he opted to let courts decide the issue.


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Here is the link to what you posted (with video)- https://www.click2houston.com/news/9...QVmXVYKTZUXy1I

DA's website now has the press release posted:
https://app.dao.hctx.net/poker-clubs...g-joint-effort

Full text...

HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
KIM K. OGG
May 1, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact:
mediarequest@dao.hctx.net

Poker clubs raided; nine owner-operators charged with money laundering in joint effort

Nine people were charged Wednesday with money laundering as part of an engaging in organized crime investigation by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Houston Police Department.

The agencies raided two poker establishments, the Post Oak Poker Club and the Prime Social Poker Club.

In addition to arresting those who own or operate the establishments, the clubs’ bank accounts, through which millions of dollars have flowed, were frozen and face being seized.

“Poker rooms are illegal in the State of Texas,” District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted.”

The charges – first-degree felonies - are the result of a two-year investigation by the District Attorney’s Office’s Money Laundering Division and the Houston Police Department’s Vice Division.

“We can’t allow illegal gambling to go on,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. “It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity.

Houston Police and the District Attorney’s Office wrapped up an investigation last year that resulted in the arrest of nearly three dozen people, including three police officers and key gambling figures in Chinatown and elsewhere.

The persons charged and locations raided Wednesday include:

Post Oak Poker Club, 1001 West Loop South, Suite 400
Daniel Jeffery Kebort, owner
William Jack Heuer III, owner
Alan Harris Chodrow, owner
Sergio Diaz Cabrera, owner
Kevin Louis Chodrow, owner

Prime Social Poker Room 7801 Westheimer Rd.
Dean Maddox, owner
Mary Switzer, comptroller
Brent J. Pollack, general manager
Steven Farshid, asst. general manager

Sheeeeeeittt... I have $5K in Prime chips at my spot. Am I ****ed? Am I ever gonna be able to cash them out? Will this be a lengthy process?

Sheeeeeeitttt

You're boned imo

I'll buy them for $1.5K

Wow ... 13 minutes for the market to open! Well played, @zizek. :>

I'm used to this ****.

I read somewhere that the police let the players leave with their chips so they could cash them out at a later date. From my gathering, they're not targeting players.

So gonna have to do better than 1500

Haven't seen this formally confirmed anywhere yet but you may be right. Poker Atlas hasn't been updated in 2 hours and just called and the phone rang and then went over to voice mail. Can someone confirm if Mint was busted as well?

Word is that Mint closed voluntarily. Lions is still running.

Edit: Rumor about Lions closing is still unconfirmed.

Legion sent out a somewhat poorly worded text (sic):

LOL. thumbsup.gif

I just heard on 97.5 that they talked with Lions and they’re open and it’s business as usual.

Owners at Post Oak got double shafted. Just laid out a lot of money to convert new space to poker room. Closed within a week of reopening. Wonder if Heuer will stlll try and open Texas Card House in Spring next week as planned? Doubtful. Guess Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen better cancel those flight reservations.

SoHo just opened too.

It is worth noting that MANY (I believe all but one) of the prosecutions in Harris County of game rooms (the ones with the 8-liners) have resulted in ZERO convictions and all monies being returned from those that it was seized from in the beginning. I pointed this out sometime last year in this forum when the idiot who always parroted the SIGH party line was trying to link to those cases...

Kim is not noted for being any brighter than her predecessors, who ALSO had many such arrests they would make when there were ill-winds blowing in other areas. Yet, for some reason, the DAO can never get convictions and winds up returning funds.

What did we have happen recently? Oh yea, lots of cases being tossed because of dirty cops and an inability to convict a multiple murderer. Hence it is time to bring out the objects of deflection and make it seem like they are doing something productive.

If any of these cases get to a jury, you can ALSO bet (pun intended) that the jurors will hear about the federal offenses that the prosecutors have instructed law enforcement to ignore and, oh by the way, catch and release practices on marijuana that result in a lot of no-shows when the appointed court date rolls around (again, pun intended).

HEYOOOOO! Do you mean this idiot? The one that was EXACTLY RIGHT when he said the DA and HPD would shut these guys down and charge them with felonies?

Crap on the SIGH folks all you want, but they nailed this with their legal analysis:
https://www.stopillegalgamblinghouston.org/legal-guide

Per the DA statement is sure looks like this is about poker....The party is over in Harris County for all these clubs

Those are the same ones that overlook the DAO and their inability to SECURE a conviction. An arrest is meaningless when you cannot convict.

I look for the nine to eventually get all assets returned, save for what they will be paying in fees as they get their names cleared and the cases subsequently expunged from their record. Nobody will be going to prison and nobody will see a day in jail beyond the one day today prior to posting bond.