I'm not entrenched in the Texas poker rooms, but the writing was absolutely on the wall for internet poker. Maybe that is the case here, but all I see is people saying hte same thing for the last 6-7 years.

Predict something long enough you are bound to be right eventually

Online poker and its illegal funding ran afoul of the law for years. Many articles were written about it but nothing ever happened. Until eventually it did.

The Texas poker rooms have run afoul of the law for years. Many articles have been written about it. Nothing ever happened. Until it does.

What's the difference?

As far as I remember it

Was all public.

Maybe it was all luck, but I started getting out of poker at the end of 2010 because UIEGA was inevitable.

I don't see anything remotely like this leading up to now, relative to Texas poker, unless the Chan incident is somehow the final straw.

They aren’t clearly running afoul of the law, though. Texas AG has declined to issue an opinion on their legality. And the courts haven’t issued any ruling, obviously. Unless you are making claims about specific rooms like Chan’s I don’t understand your point.

Bingo halls have been run legally in Texas for decades. How is setting up a poker room illegal but Bingo halls are okay? I’ve read the laws and my layperson view is that they aren’t any different. If Bingo Halls are legal then the poker clubs should be as well. How are these two operations tangibly different?


The source of instability that worries me is if a major Casino can gain a foothold in TX near one of the big cities. That may require the creation of a gambling commission and a rewrite of the law. Poker clubs would be unlikely to survive major changes to the law. But I cannot predict when this would occur. Maybe it’s 5-10 years down the road, but that’s far from a certainty.

And years before that development people were talking about how the sites were able to operate legally in the USA. Again, the only difference for Texas is the crackdown hasn't happened yet. You could look at any presumed illegal activity and wonder why the purveyors haven't been stopped yet. It can take years, as was the case with online poker, and for any number of reasons...Not being on the radar of law enforcement. The caseload and other priorities they have. The time it takes to investigate and build a case. Political corruption and influence.

Not issuing an opinion is not an opinion of legality. Bingo is different because Texas specifically describes the situations it's legal:

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/gambling/bingo

Agree 100%.

Was the Chan incident even covered by mainstream news sites? A quick search of Johnny Chan 88 social brings up dozens of articles from poker sites. I'm not sure the local news ever picked this up. Also as I understand it, the new owner plans to make the affected players whole.

There are a lot of differences. You are talking about feds vs state/local. You are talking about online poker sites that tried to skirt the law as opposed to poker rooms that worked hand in hand with law enforcement agencies and city officials to open their clubs.

There are thousands of differences but you haven't cited any that are relevant. Maybe the time zone matters? States don't enforce state laws?

Can you please provide citations of poker rooms in Texas working with government and law enforcement agencies specifically about the gambling aspects of their clubs? I would like to review those.

If you don't know that some poker rooms worked with city officials and law enforcement agencies to open their clubs then you simply aren't very close to this subject matter at all and probably aren't even from Texas.

You sure do blow a lot of smoke for a dude with exactly zero posts in the "Membership-Based Poker in Texas" thread which has over 2500 posts. This current thread is about Polk, Neeme, and Brad Owen buying a stake in a poker room. This is not the "educate pocket_zeros about Texas poker since he knows jackshit" thread.

So no citations then? And again, citations specific to government and law enforcement officials working with them on the gambling aspects of those clubs.

It's as if you just discovered there is poker in Texas. There's literally been a thread on this exact subject matter active on this site for four and a half years and yet you've never posted there a single time.

It's as if you chose to give contextual replies to 10 of my posts in this thread but when asked to provide the citations claimed suddenly the context is about my participation in other threads and naturally, personal insults.

Not issuing an opinion is just a statement that the top cop Ken Paxton does not intend to pursue prosecution against the Texas clubs . It is neither a statement of innocence nor a statement of guilt. What I disagreed with in your post was the claim that clubs are obviously afoul of the law. My position is much weaker, that Texas clubs operate in a grey area. But this grey area is also inhabited by bingo halls. There is no exception for Bingo in the anti-gambling legislation as far as I know. The same anti-gambling legislation that some consider Texas poker clubs to violate.

The exceptions you link to for Bingo halls are to the anti-private-lottery legislation, which is not relevant to this discussion as far as I can tell. Nobody is claiming Texas poker clubs violate the anti-lottery laws. Perhaps I misunderstood what I read but I fail to see the relevance of the link you sent.

My question is whether a court would be able discriminate against poker clubs but allow bingo halls as per its reading of the anti-gambling laws.

It took me a while to figure out your troll game, completely derailing this thread with a topic that is supposed to be contained to the other thread.

Anyways, congrats to Neeme, Owen, and Polk. Their partnership with the Lodge is sure to be a huge boon to the Austin poker scene. I’m excited to see how this develops and I know a lot of other players are as well!

I'm not following you on the Bingo law. It's in the same statute as lotteries but it specifically carves an exception that includes non-private bingo, provided its for a charitable organization. Here's a third-party site that seems to be affiliated but references the statutes I linked to previously:

https://www.playtexas.com/bingo/

If there's something I'm still missing about your bingo vs poker position let me know. I'm not nearly as familiar with the Bingo industry.

I outlined why I think the poker groups are afoul of the law in these posts:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...3&postcount=29

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...8&postcount=31

Personal insults, and now accusations, but still no citations.

Good grief.

Quit tarding the thread up Pocket Zeros.

always the bridesmaid, never the bride

back to TX. again all would have to agree the clubs are going to keep growing in numbers and size and marketing. The market for poker in Texas in enormous. Clubs print money if not run by crooks and/or the brain dead.

There will come a tipping point when the matter gets pushed to a court. With no legislation changes. they will be all closed. Maybe in 1 year maybe 2 or maybe 5. There will simply not be a Commerce Casino downtown DFW and Bicycle Casino in Austin. with no speed bumps. clearly this is where TX poker rooms are headed. its just math folks.

Once the state get's a taste of the tax revenue they may warm up to expanded gambling for the masses.

Just like when Colorado legalized recreational marijuana the other states took a look at the income and their eyes got big, now lots of folks want on board.

If that was true there would have been a MGM , Boyd and Harrahs property in Dallas and Houston years ago.

Gaming legislation not happening anytime soon in TX. Not happening anytime soon in GA.

Some is more like a few. Most did not work with cities and many actively work against cities or locals. Any one selling or providing alcohol did not work with them in good faith. Plus it is state law being violated if violation is ocurring. City can’t speak for state.