The Texas Card House Dallas location received some favorable news this week.
The state’s supreme court will keep cards in the air at the club, effectively ending a three-year legal battle. In 2024, an appellate court ruled against the city’s efforts to revoke its approval of the business. The Texas Supreme Court decided it won’t review the decision.
City officials argued the club violates state gambling laws.
Long Road To Legal Victory
According to the Dallas Morning News, the city’s decision to appeal to the state’s highest court was actually split. Former chief building official Andrew Espinoza wanted a review of the case, but the city’s board of adjustment approved TCH’s request for a certificate of occupancy.
Espinoza later sued both the board and the card club. A Dallas County district judge sided with city officials and against the club in 2022. But the appellate court later ruled that the board of adjustment’s original decision should stand.
“The court must not substitute its discretion for the BOA’s, even if the court concludes the overwhelming preponderance of evidence is against the BOA’s decision,” judges wrote in the appeals court ruling. “If reasonable minds could have reached the conclusion the BOA must have reached to justify its action, the trial court must uphold the BOA’s order.”
The supreme court’s decision makes that ruling the final decision. Throughout the ordeal, Dallas taxpayers coughed up at least $550,000 in legal expenses.
In May 2024, some city officials sought to clarify what types of clubs would be legal and attempted to find a solution to end the costly litigation. But that never happened after the case reached the appellate and supreme court levels.
Operating In A Grey Area
Poker clubs in Texas have become plentiful over the last few years. While gambling is officially illegal in the Lone Star State, private games without a rake are considered lawful.
As a result, poker clubs function like a country club or other private social group. However, not everyone agrees the clubs successfully skirt state law by charging club dues and hourly seat rates.
“I think the poker clubs have some severe legal problems,” said Professor I. Nelson Rose, a gaming legal expert and publisher of the Gambling and the Law blog. “Arguing that poker, especially poker tournaments, are games of skill – that won’t work in Texas. ‘Gambling’ is defined as playing or betting for money ‘at any game played with cards.’
“A person commits the crime of ‘gambling promotion,’ if he intentionally or knowingly operates or participates in the earnings of a gambling place. And ‘keeping a gambling place’ is a separate crime.”
Despite that, state legislators and law enforcement continue to allow the poker clubs in many parts of the state.
