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There are a few poker rooms that have opened up around me here in Galveston, and I'm having a blast. The dealers are good, the other players are good but not too good, and the places are clean and close to a neat area of downtown. If you like poker, it beats the pants off of Lake Charles.

That said, I noticed that they didn't have 30.06 or 30.07 signs. I am not sure that they need to do so, but I am unclear on the law. I know that racetracks and sporting events are prohibited, but these are NOT gambling establishments (if they were, they would be illegal). Rather, you pay a fee (per day/month/year) and $12 per hour for your seat. Essentially, you are paying for the service of running a poker game, and by law the house cannot be involved in the actual betting. The chips used for paying for time, tipping dealers, or buying refreshments (it's BYOB, so technically none of their revenue is from alcohol sales) are completely separate from those used for playing poker.

I went for the first time today and elected to leave my weapon in the car. I wasn't sure if they'd be posted, and honestly I was surprised that they weren't. That said, they don't have much in the way of security and there is quite a bit of money on the table. The actual money is in the back, presumably in a safe, but I doubt they have a Graffunder back there. My question is: where does this stand in relation to the extant statutes on racetracks and sporting events? These are a relatively new phenomenon, so I'm not sure that there is a specific ruling on them, but I figured that this would be the place to ask. If it's simply not clear, I thought of asking them to post the door or at least inform them that some folks might carry weapons into their establishment because the law is not clear.

Hmm.. that's a good question!

This doesn't sound like it meets the "professional sporting" much less collegiate, high school, or interscholastic sporting event. It is not 51% and the statute says racetrack and racetrack is defined. So I do not think it is unclear, but I could be mistaken.

There is one caveat though- if the location you are at is a 51% location - just no alcohol sales at your event, it is still prohibited. 51% locations are always in effect even if at the time they are not selling alcohol (which is stupid).

That said, why would you want them to post compliant signage? LTC holders statistically are the most law abiding group of people in Texas. Why would you want to make it a GFZ and more dangerous? As long as you are not consuming alcohol I would think you would want to carry since from your description they apparently do not provide adequate security.

Just my .02 worth.

They never sell alcohol.

And to your question regarding asking them to post: I have no desire to be a test case.

At the one in Clear Lake area, several people carry there (so a couple of my friends who go there tell me)

Some carry openly

My only concern, from a legal point, is that I believe the statute talks about “paramutual” betting - and if so, I would think that a poker room would meet that definition

IMO If you are drinking, NO. If you have a temper, NO. I would strongly recommend concealed. These places DO get robbed and possibly raided. You need to think about what you would do in that situation. As soon as I would walk out the door, I would open carry!

My only concern, from a legal point, is that I believe the statute talks about “paramutual” betting - and if so, I would think that a poker room would meet that definition

While I failed to accurately list it, this is the particular part of the law that I am worried about.

The parimutuel betting is only mentioned in chapter 46 if it is on horse racing or dog racing.

My worry is that gambling is still illegal in Texas. As I read it, the rooms do not meet the exception in the law of being in a private place (they are open to the public so they are public places). It is illegal to place a bet in a public place, and illegal to allow gambling on your premises or make a profit from it.

I am not sure how these poker rooms are getting around this yet. I think it is very similar to the 9 liners that are everywhere and have been ruled as gambling devices. I also remember the fad a few years back for gaming rooms where the machines paid out in tickets that could be exchanged for prizes instead of paying out cash. They were attempts to skirt the law that held up only until they got big enough or profitable enough to warrant the attention of the politicians. I would point out that half the incumbent district attorneys that had primary challengers in the election just lost. Some of the DAs facing challenges in the main election are bound to be looking for big busts to impress the electorate.

Of course, i could be wrong and they may have a very good position or even be legal.

srothstein wrote:The parimutuel betting is only mentioned in chapter 46 if it is on horse racing or dog racing.

My worry is that gambling is still illegal in Texas. As I read it, the rooms do not meet the exception in the law of being in a private place (they are open to the public so they are public places). It is illegal to place a bet in a public place, and illegal to allow gambling on your premises or make a profit from it.

I am not sure how these poker rooms are getting around this yet. I think it is very similar to the 9 liners that are everywhere and have been ruled as gambling devices. I also remember the fad a few years back for gaming rooms where the machines paid out in tickets that could be exchanged for prizes instead of paying out cash. They were attempts to skirt the law that held up only until they got big enough or profitable enough to warrant the attention of the politicians. I would point out that half the incumbent district attorneys that had primary challengers in the election just lost. Some of the DAs facing challenges in the main election are bound to be looking for big busts to impress the electorate.

Of course, i could be wrong and they may have a very good position or even be legal.

My guess is they are walking a fine line by requiring a membership fee to get a seat at a table, so it's not technically open to the public.

My guess is they are walking a fine line by requiring a membership fee to get a seat at a table

At least at this place, they do. They offer daily memberships for $10, or $5 if you arrive before 6pm (i.e. "Happy Hour"). I'm not sure how "exclusive" the law demands that the club make itself. That said, this place is in plain view on the Strand in downtown Galveston. A cop literally waved me to walk in front of his car as I crossed the street to enter the establishment. If the cops are planning to raid it and bust heads, they're certainly taking their time.

There are a couple of these rooms in Houston. From talking with the wife of one of the owners, my understanding is that they are simply renting out a space and providing the use of cards, chips and dealers. The house is charging a fee (daily + hourly) for this service. They are not directly profiting from any poker bets. The analogy would be if you want to rent a location from me so you can host a "casino night" for your church group, or whatever. I agree to provide a room, some tables, chips, dealers, and cards. You pay me a fee for the night. Is that illegal? I don't think so.

I do know that home games are not illegal as long as the person hosting the game does not make a profit. The one home game I play in has 4-5 cops that are regulars, so it is either fine, or they simply couldn't care less.

Getting back to the OP's question, please don't ask anyone to post a 30.06 sign. Ever. If you think it could possibly be illegal to carry somewhere and you don't want to be a "test case" then just don't carry. Having them post signage does nothing to reduce the possibility of you being a "test case".

I would paraphrase "Parimutuel Betting" as variable-odds betting. It generally only applied to Horse & Dog tracks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimutuel_betting

My concern in carrying at a poker room would be if it got raided on suspicion of illegal gambling then they might look at you as carrying in the commission of a crime. If you later beat the illegal gambling charge you might beat the unlawful weapon rap, but you'll probably still take a ride.

DKB wrote:I would paraphrase "Parimutuel Betting" as variable-odds betting. It generally only applied to Horse & Dog tracks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimutuel_betting

My concern in carrying at a poker room would be if it got raided on suspicion of illegal gambling then they might look at you as carrying in the commission of a crime. If you later beat the illegal gambling charge you might beat the unlawful weapon rap, but you'll probably still take a ride.

You'd be "taking a ride" (aka getting cited) whether you are carrying or not since the only way carrying is illegal (assuming no 30.06) is if your being there is also illegal. These places are operating VERY MUCH out in the open, so if a local DA wants to shut them down, I would expect them to make a public announcement first, just from a PR perspective. They are pretty popular and have a cross section of folks with money / good jobs as patrons. It might be a career boosting move for a DA to crack down, but even if it is, I don't think it would be a career boosting move to do so in a heavy handed manner with a bunch of arrests. Then again, I think most voters in places like Houston and Austin might look unfavorably on any crack down, and since DA's are politicians, a crack down becomes unlikely, IMHO. IANAL.

The most popular one in Houston used to have compliant 30.06 and 30.07 wording at the very bottom of the glass doors and it was white lettering on a clear background, so questionable. They now have added additional signs on the doors that are black lettering on a white background. So if one is not exempt from 30.06, then I would strongly advise not carrying there. They also search all bags so a sub-2000 probably won't work either.

A young man was shot by robbers while leaving Texas Card House in Austin early Monday morning (late Sunday night). According to the Texas Card House website they have 30.06 and 30.07 signs posted so it would be illegal to carry there.

FYI, all of these "legal" poker rooms were shutdown in the Dallas/Ft Worth area quite a while back. A room in Dallas was raided and I believe 1 or 2 were raided in Collin County too. There were no announcements made beforehand. That being said, I don't believe any patrons were arrested and I believe it's pretty standard even in underground games to let patrons go home free (provided they don't have drugs or warrants) and just go after the game runners.