A pair of Houston card rooms were raided by local law enforcement Wednesday afternoon and more crackdowns of these establishments might be on the way.
Houston Police raided two popular poker rooms, arresting nine people on charges of money laundering.
Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. In total, nine owners and managers were arrested on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.
- Midway through July, all charges against the poker room owners and managers were dropped. But that may not be the end of this increasingly complicated story. It happened on May 1 at the Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club, both located in Houston.
- The state Bureau of Gambling Control has proposed new rules for California's 72 card rooms that operators of the establishments say could make games such as seven card stud poker, pai gow.
- Last Wednesday, authorities in Houston, Texas raided two poker rooms and arrested a total of nine people that were reportedly engaging in poker-related malpractices. Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club, the two poker rooms were some of the operations that had been under a two-year vice probe that sought to uncover a multi-billion-dollar.
'Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,' District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. 'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.'
Officers seized computers and hard drives in the raid. At Prime Social Club, the raid took place just a few minutes before the start of a $580 no-limit hold'em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media that this is just the start of a larger crackdown on poker rooms in Houston.
'We're not going to tolerate it,' Acevedo told the local ABC News affiliate. 'We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it. Otherwise, we're going to do our jobs and shut them down.'
Law enforcement clearly believes these clubs are breaking the state's gambling laws. The operators, on the other hand, believe that they are in full compliance with state law since they don't collect a rake. The card rooms only charge membership fees and consider themselves a private club.
'We're just facilitating the play between the players,' said Daniel Kebort, one of the five owners of the Post Oak Poker Club that were arrested yesterday.
Wayne Dolcefino, who worked for Prime Social Club both in researching the law before the club opened its doors and in promoting certain events, said that the idea that they are hiding a criminal operation is laughable.
Poker Rooms Houston News Channel 13
'In my view, a business trying to cover their tracks wouldn't be in a giant building on Westheimer,' said Dolcefino.
While no players were arrested, both clubs had their bank accounts and assets frozen. According to an October 2018 article from the San Antonio Express, there are 'about 40' of these poker clubs operating throughout the state.
Last Wednesday, authorities in Houston, Texas raided two poker rooms and arrested a total of nine people that were reportedly engaging in poker-related malpractices. Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club, the two poker rooms were some of the operations that had been under a two-year vice probe that sought to uncover a multi-billion-dollar money laundering scheme.
The suspects were arrested on Wednesday at 11 a.m. rightbefore the police officers search both facilities. It was found that since2017, they have made a total of $10 million in bank deposits – these accountshave since been frozen and face seizure. Houston police officers brought PrimeSocial owner Dean Maddox and his general manager, Brent Pollack, out of theirpoker room at 7801 Westheimer Ave. in handcuffs before a week-long $150,000Texas Hold'em tournament was scheduled to begin.
Poker Rooms Houston News Headlines
Lawsuit Filed
Groupe casino 123 quai jules guesde 94400 vitry sur seine france. The people who were arrested have been charged at the state's courts with the charges being leveled against them including engaging in organized criminal activity, money laundering as well as gambling promotion. There is enough evidence for this since, as it turns out, some Houston police officers conducted undercover operations by posing as customers at each of the gaming establishments. Apparently, they were asked to pay a membership fee, a door fee, and a fee to play at a poker table.
'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted,' District Attorney Kim Ogg commented.
The State of Poker in Texas
Poker Rooms Houston News Channel 11
Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club were raided by officers from the Vice Division of the Houston Police Department. In total, nine owners and managers were arrested on charges of money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity.
- Midway through July, all charges against the poker room owners and managers were dropped. But that may not be the end of this increasingly complicated story. It happened on May 1 at the Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club, both located in Houston.
- The state Bureau of Gambling Control has proposed new rules for California's 72 card rooms that operators of the establishments say could make games such as seven card stud poker, pai gow.
- Last Wednesday, authorities in Houston, Texas raided two poker rooms and arrested a total of nine people that were reportedly engaging in poker-related malpractices. Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club, the two poker rooms were some of the operations that had been under a two-year vice probe that sought to uncover a multi-billion-dollar.
'Poker rooms are illegal in Texas,' District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. 'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators.'
Officers seized computers and hard drives in the raid. At Prime Social Club, the raid took place just a few minutes before the start of a $580 no-limit hold'em tournament with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told local media that this is just the start of a larger crackdown on poker rooms in Houston.
'We're not going to tolerate it,' Acevedo told the local ABC News affiliate. 'We got two of the bigger ones today and this is just the beginning. We need to shut them down. If you want to have these kind of establishments, the legislature needs to authorize it. Otherwise, we're going to do our jobs and shut them down.'
Law enforcement clearly believes these clubs are breaking the state's gambling laws. The operators, on the other hand, believe that they are in full compliance with state law since they don't collect a rake. The card rooms only charge membership fees and consider themselves a private club.
'We're just facilitating the play between the players,' said Daniel Kebort, one of the five owners of the Post Oak Poker Club that were arrested yesterday.
Wayne Dolcefino, who worked for Prime Social Club both in researching the law before the club opened its doors and in promoting certain events, said that the idea that they are hiding a criminal operation is laughable.
Poker Rooms Houston News Channel 13
'In my view, a business trying to cover their tracks wouldn't be in a giant building on Westheimer,' said Dolcefino.
While no players were arrested, both clubs had their bank accounts and assets frozen. According to an October 2018 article from the San Antonio Express, there are 'about 40' of these poker clubs operating throughout the state.
Last Wednesday, authorities in Houston, Texas raided two poker rooms and arrested a total of nine people that were reportedly engaging in poker-related malpractices. Prime Social Club and Post Oak Poker Club, the two poker rooms were some of the operations that had been under a two-year vice probe that sought to uncover a multi-billion-dollar money laundering scheme.
The suspects were arrested on Wednesday at 11 a.m. rightbefore the police officers search both facilities. It was found that since2017, they have made a total of $10 million in bank deposits – these accountshave since been frozen and face seizure. Houston police officers brought PrimeSocial owner Dean Maddox and his general manager, Brent Pollack, out of theirpoker room at 7801 Westheimer Ave. in handcuffs before a week-long $150,000Texas Hold'em tournament was scheduled to begin.
Poker Rooms Houston News Headlines
Lawsuit Filed
Groupe casino 123 quai jules guesde 94400 vitry sur seine france. The people who were arrested have been charged at the state's courts with the charges being leveled against them including engaging in organized criminal activity, money laundering as well as gambling promotion. There is enough evidence for this since, as it turns out, some Houston police officers conducted undercover operations by posing as customers at each of the gaming establishments. Apparently, they were asked to pay a membership fee, a door fee, and a fee to play at a poker table.
'We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted,' District Attorney Kim Ogg commented.
The State of Poker in Texas
Poker Rooms Houston News Channel 11
Poker rooms have managed to operate in the legally grey area that currently defines the state's poker regulations. However, as stipulated in Texas state laws, poker games are only allowed if they are operated under the following conditions:
Poker Rooms Houston News Today
- The games are held in private.
- No rake is taken and no money is made from thegames.
- The games are fair.
Private poker clubs in the state have, however, found ways to skirt around the state's gambling laws by not taking a share of the gambling money and instead charging membership fees as well as other types of fees. Naturally, the operators of these poker rooms believe that they are in full compliance with the state laws because they do not collect any rake. The law enforcement officers, on the other hand, are of the opinion that that operators have been illegally facilitating underground gambling activities which is a violation of the state's laws.
