Dallas is completely different then the rest of Texas. They have a strong interest to not let these exist. They did not let champions or legends open so it’s not a huge surprise they didn’t want tch too. Choctaw and winstar have a lot of money to fight that fight.

Jdogg actually called into Barts show to try and defend himself LOL

As Greg points out, the answer is really both. If prosecutors decide that reading the law one way results in absurd prosecutions, then they will simply decline to prosecute those cases. For example, it's clearly absurd that I get arrested for hosting a rake-free tourney b/c some people paid to park to play. Or someone ordered pizza at the tourney, and thus the pizza place gained economic benefit.

Then change the example to a restaurant that doesn't sell alcohol. They have a free tourney that awards a gift card and they sell more chicken wings on those nights.

The same defense exists in the offense of gambling, and is used as the test to determine if what activity is occurring is illegal gambling or not. If that activity isn't illegal gambling, by definition it isn't a gambling house.

Yup. My attorney friend today told me him and lots of his lawyer friends in Texas think within 6 months they will all be shutdown permanently all over the state. It's definitely coming to an end.

Sorry man but you were totally wrong. You acted like there was no way TCF Dallas would be shutdown as well as any of the other clubs. You could see the writing on the wall this was going to happen.

Definitely. Not even a question.

I know everyone is slamming it down my throat that this can’t happen to the lodge because they’re in so much more of a relaxed part of the state yada yada. But red flags should go up when a casino offers to sell a piece to a group of people who are least likely to know the ins and outs of the law/how a poker room profitably runs. They could easily have created sponsorships without offering any equity if publicity was all they wanted. Seems likely a statewide crackdown is coming

Ps I don’t care that this isn’t explicitly about the casino OP mentioned, it’s obviously quite relevant to the topic of poker halls shutting down

Agree completely. I said it as soon as Polk and Neeme and Owen announced they were buying ownership in the Lodge. Previous owner was smart to get out. The statewide crackdown is coming, it's just a question of when.

Care to bet on it being shut down statewide in the next 2 years? I'll bet up to 20k. We can find an escrow.

What odds are you laying on the 6 month statewide shutdown?

You are aware the Texas state legislature does not meet this year, right? You are also aware states usually lean to being careful ie we'll just shut them all down and handle it through the courts. Take a look at DFS. Which, by the way, was temporarily banned in the state of Texas. Your betting option leaves open the door for them being shut down and re-opened as well.

Interesting, though, that you'd be willing to bet $20k the state wont shut poker rooms down. Let us know if you get any takers.

I'm aware. It'd come the next time legislature meets. I'd also consider it a loss on my part if every local DA in Texas shut them down without changing the laws as they currently are. But a crackdown in an individual city does not count.

Please show me where I said "no way" TCH Dallas would be shutdown, and also TCH Dallas is currently open, so....

Also I will put a friendly hundo that says The Lodge is open on August 1, 2022, a little over six months from now. Want in?

If he was smart he was making campaign contributions to the right people who would keep him in the know: It's just business.

Love the "LOL".

...it did not go well

so don't you think the intent of the law is to prohibit places like these card rooms to operate and that even though by the letter of the law a charity poker event where somebody makes money from parking is illegal that they would just not prosecute those?

I would say when the statute was drafted, this model wasn't even imagined by the legislators.

I would also say that it's a fairly open question. For example, if I am running a bookie operation and taking juice, I make more money the more money a person gambles. So my incentive is to encourage people to gamble more money, which could cause the negative consequences the law is presumably aimed to prevent.

But, The Lodge or TCH make the same amount of money from me whether I sit down at 1/2 with $100 or at 25/50 with $10,000. So there's a reasonable argument that the "economic benefit" being tied to the money actually gambled was the actual intent of the statute.

OK, I am starting to be able to see this from your viewpoint. I started thinking about other forms of gambling and using this hourly model towards them. You open up a game room with slot machines. You charge by the hour to play. Well, this doesn't work because the house HAS to make money based on how much the person is gambling, not how long they are gambling. Same with blackjack and other casino games. These games NEED a house to make a percentage of how much is being bet. Poker is not like that. The players are betting against each other. There is no house that needs to make a certain percentage off of each bet.

Right, exactly! And if the house is raking the pot in a poker game, they benefit from bigger pots, but if a a club is charging hourly access fees that apply whether the person is even at a table or not, they don't.

Again, not saying it's an OMG SLAM DUNK SO OBV argument, just saying there is a very legit argument in favor of it, that is shared by many attorneys, including prosecutors, lawmakers, etc., that is not just a "wink wink nudge nudge" end-around.

Now I am envisioning a business model for a nationwide network of sports betting bars. They charge membership fees and have food and drinks and tons of TVs. You have these tablets that customers can offer and accept bets on that are linked to all the bars part of the network. So you go to these bars to watch the games and real time offer and accept bets on the tablets. The bars take no cut of the bets. The bets are purely between the bettors. Any sports bar can become part of the network.

Except at some of these places - Legends in Houston as an example they charge a higher hourly fee for higher games:
1/3 NL and PLO - $12 an hour
5/5/10 PLO - $15 an hour
25/50 PLO - $25 an hour

Haha as I was typing my previous response, I was envisioning the same thing. Let's go into business!

Hmm, interesting, hadn't seen that. I don't think it automatically means the defense is gone, but certainly they lose one solid argument in favor of reading the statute the other way.

Could be argued that the higher seat fee covers a greater % of the security costs, as security needs increase disproportionally the higher the stakes/more money is on location, and as such the location is not making more money per higher bet/blind structure but rather passing on the security (financial) burden to those causing the greatest need for it...or something along those lines.

Hey guys, just letting you fellas know that I played at TCH Dallas today and it is still open. It has not been forced to close yet. The title of this thread is still fake news. Just letting you all know. I'll keep you updated regarding the status of the club and the fakeness of the thread title when I go in future days as well.

If any of you go to the club, please post whether it is still open or closed. Thanks.