Quote:
Originally Posted by greatxwhite
Correct, I am not really sure what the goal is or direction for all of these rooms in Houston. Like mentioned above, the rooms that do things right and seem "clean cut" struggle to get cash tables going. These rooms blatantly taking a rake seems pretty concerning as it has been made pretty clear that is where the line is to operate in Texas, at least for now. That is the garbage that will get it all closed down, and its a pretty short sited business model IMO. Maybe TCH will find a way to take over the cash game space in the area, and Prime can continue to do well with tournaments, but if I had to guess, everyone will keep donking off at Legends and 101 and nothing will change. Doesnt seem like River Room has gotten much traction yet either.
I don't believe there currently is ANY defined line to operate. But I do agree that raking pots in cash games goes beyond any fuzzy pseudo official line. There is a reason the early clean rooms chose the model they chose. That model MIGHT pass muster with TX. Maybe they chose it because the area was grey enough that TX simply did not bother.
I completely agree that openly raking, the area violence (related to poker or not), and similar may be enough that state decides to get involved. Right now it is all city by city and county by county generally choosing to look away. I am pretty sure that if some anti-poker city/county pushed the case to completion sites raking pots, raking tournaments (even if just for dealer add on, but likely much less required) would win their ruling.
Agree it is short sighted but the rooms doing this often appear to have a choice. Go with clean biz model and long term outlook but be out of business in x months OR start raking and survive. This makes the open rake the better long term view for that business.
Fact is that someone is always going to push the envelope but if they push too far, state will simply come down hard on entire industry. Those who talk about the thousands of jobs and all the revenue being generated for the state are just silly. Poker jobs and revenue are not even a pimple to the TX state govt. That reasoning will not carry the day in a dispute.