FTN Poker Club in McKinney closed within a month, a demise no doubt spurred by its coverage in the Dallas Morning News.
Poker clubs have opened throughout Texas over the past couple of years, causing clashes between local law enforcement and the business owners who organize such games. Poker club operators have devised ingenious policies to flout the laws, though local officials in over a dozen Texas cities have said those policies do not make poker club’s legal.
Meanwhile, a handful of Texas state lawmakers have indicated they might pass laws to make a poker club ban more emphatic. In either case, poker club owners face the possibility of being raided, having their gaming equipment and cash confiscated, and being charged with felonies.
Gambling, besides pari-mutuel bets on horse racing or lottery betting, has long been illegal in the Lone Star State. Casinos are banned, while any organized poker events which takes a rake is illegal. For years, though, Texas state poker lovers have sought out places to fill their needs. Many have played in illegal poker clubs in their communities.
Poker Clubs in Dallas and Houston
Texans in the Dallas and Houston areas do not have to travel too far in order to find a place to play some Texas Hold’Em, as Dallas is an hour from the WinStar Casino in Thackerville and Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma. Houston is within 2 & ½ to 3 hours drive from Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has 9 different land casino.
Like many contemporary Americans, though, Texas gamblers do not have time for hour-long drives to legal casinos. Many Texas residents fulfill their gambling needs elsewhere. Though a few card players have attempted to change the law, they have failed in a decisive way. The last serious effort to legalize a casino in Texas led to the Jack Abramov scandal.
Texas Law on Poker Gambling
Now, small-time poker club owners are offering seat rentals or expensive refreshments to generate cash off of organized poker sessions. The Texas Penal Code defines three parameters that can exempt an activity from the category of gambling.
1. The activity must take place in a private setting/place.
2. No person receives an economic benefit outside of personal winnings.
3. All participants have the same chances of winning and risk of losing, aside from luck or skill.
Though it might sound simple enough to open a rake-free poker club, the sad truth is that most poker clubs that have opened in the state do not last long before they are shut down by authorities.
Coastal Texas Poker Clubs
A report from Tim Acosta from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, discussed poker clubs along the Texas coastal bend. Many of which have had trouble keeping doors open as they continue to battle local politicians and law enforcement.
Acosta spoke about a couple of card clubs in Kingsville, Rounders Poker Club and Kingdom’s Poker Club, both of which received the greenlight from city officials. Officials said “door fees” instead of a poker rake would make their establishments legal. When they opened their doors, though, they were shut down soon after by law enforcement.
One of the clubs has now reopened, but it is no longer accepting door fees which was the main source of funding for the business.
Legal Gray Area
A state congressman mentioned poker club betting as being a legal “gray area”, but that does not seem too comforting to the loss suffered by business owners and their players who had their funds confiscated.
Other dangers persist for poker clubs operating in the gray area. Underground games have known to be targeted by burglars, because the criminals figure the club owners will not call the authorities to report the crime.
Poker Club FTN in McKinney
Poker Club FTN in McKinney seemed to hit the same snag. They opened their doors September 15, 2017.
Just over a month later, Poker Club FTN was made to shut down by the Collin County DA’s office and officially closed their doors on October 23. Though the club now has an online club and says it has not given up hopes of opening their doors again, the likelihood it will ever open again is small.
In other communities, Texas clubs continue to function successfully in the open while advertising cash games and tournaments on social media. Often, the difference is in the attitudes of the local sheriff, or the willingness of anonymous tipsters to let law enforcement know of the gambling.
Texas State Legislature’s Ruling
The issue lies with the inconsistency of how local politicians and law enforcement view the clubs. The issue being that while one individual or lawmaking body can give approval in favor of the club, just as easily another can shut it down.
So be it that from town to town, consistency is lacking, the only clear solution would be to set a state regulated decision. For the State, 2009 was the last time the bill got a push of any kind, and it got shut down without a sound. The governor at that time, Rick Perry promised to veto any expansions on gambling.
The legal gray area might continue for some time. Unlike many states, the Texas State Legislature is not in session many days in a year’s time. The Texas legislature meets in a biennial session starting in January in every odd-numbered year. The session lasts no more than 140 days. While the government can call special sessions for emergencies, they are relatively rare and last a maximum of 30 days.
In short, Texas lawmakers only meet every other year and they have little time to pass new laws. Acosta mentioned in his report that any poker-friendly clarification of law will not be available until 2019 at the earliest, according to the Texas Legislature’s schedule.
Greg Abbott on Texas Poker
The current man in office, Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican in the state known for its conservative ways, does not seem to be a man intent on changing gambling law. Abbott discussed the matter back in 2015, saying that he “wholeheartedly” supported the law structure on gambling that was currently put in place. Gov. Abbott suggested that legislators stop pushing for any changes.
For the time being, Texas poker appears to be in a legal no-man’s land, left up to local politicians and law enforcement officials.
