Most gambling is illegal in Texas but poker clubs live in a gray area where some are allowed as membership-only clubs.
The clubs generally live within the law, not charging rakes, which are illegal. They do charge membership fees and usually avoid the wrong side of the law.
But uneasy sits the poker club in the Lone Star State, where law enforcement in some jurisdictions don’t make any distinction between them and illegal gambling. Whether your card club is raided depends on the municipality and how it interprets the law.
In Fort Worth on October 9, one year after the Watauga Social Lounge first opened, during its Fall Classic Poker Tournament, the deputies of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, acting on a warrant signed by a local judge busted in on 54 players.
The deputies confiscated video poker machines, roulette wheels, money and ATMs among other items, the first two obviously illegal by Texas law.
They were accompanied by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which also issued citations for various gaming violations, including some to players, for fines up to $411. It also arrested employees of the card club for, according to Online Poker News, “keeping a gambling facility, promoting gambling, and participating in organized criminal activity.”
The card club announced that it lost about $200,000 as a result of the raid.
