He was excited when what were billed as the first legal poker rooms began opening in Dallas a couple of years ago. Of all the poker rooms he's frequented, he says Texas Card House stands out as the best-run.
But in recent months, the poker rooms' legality has been called into question, and late last year, the city of Dallas yanked Texas Card House's certificate of occupancy.
This week, Texas Card House got their certificate back thanks to an appeal that reached the city's Board of Adjustment meeting, as first reported by D Magazine.
About two years ago, Texas Card House got approval from the city to run a membership club where people could play poker for money. As long as the poker games were taking place in a private establishment, the house didn’t take a cut of the bets and all the players had an equal chance of winning, the city said Texas Card House was allowed to do its thing.
These appeared to be the exceptions laid out for such establishments in Texas law, but the city of Dallas has since changed its interpretation of the law and started revoking the certificates of occupancy for the poker rooms officials previously approved.
Ryan Crow, CEO of Texas Card House, told the Observer, "We are pleased the Board of Adjustment unanimously agreed with our position."
Dallas has put Gary Powell, the city's senior assistant attorney, on the case. Powell and the city now say those exceptions in the Texas Constitution only apply to a person’s home. They say Texas Card House can’t claim to be a “private establishment” if some 650 come through there a day.“There was never a persuasive argument that new information came to light.” – Lawrence Halcomb, Dallas Board of Adjustment
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The problem is the City Attorney’s Office, the City Plan Commission and City Council all approved Texas Card House, and nothing has changed about their business model since.
Lawrence Halcomb, one of the board members, said during the meeting, “There was never a persuasive argument that new information came to light.”
Powell thinks the certificates of occupancy should be taken away retroactively because the city didn’t have a clear understanding of Texas law when it approved these businesses.
Still, Board of Adjustment members didn’t feel they had the authority to decide if Texas Card House was breaking the law. So, they reinstated Texas Card House's certificate.
Now, the other poker rooms that had certificates revoked will work to get theirs back through the board.
Another company, Champions, tried to open a room in northern Dallas but was denied a certificate of occupancy. This seemed to kick off the rest of the poker rooms getting their certificates revoked. Champions sued the city, and the legality of poker rooms may be furthered argued in that case.
Whether they’re deemed legal or not, poker players say the cards will keep being dealt. “People are going to play,” Rebecca Thompson, a local poker player, said. “They’re going to play wherever.”
