How To Run A Legal Poker Room

How To Run A Legal Poker Room Rating: 3,9/5 6905 votes

Central ohio card club never charges to play poker. They never take a rake. If others charge you to play they are not legal. There are other things you need to learn. Charging daily, monthly or annual dues is legal for a club. Playing poker is legal as long as no one is making money off it, or it is not attached to a liquor license.

  1. Having said that, Poker has a huge popularity among the upper-class society here. I run an upscale poker room in such an Islamic country. Here is what we do when we run our games.
  2. There are two types of charity poker events you can run: a tournament or a cash game session. You can either make it an invitation-only event or open it up to the public (to maximize attendance and donations); depending on how many poker tables your venue has room for. Charity Poker Tournaments.

Contents

Its name might be attached to the most popular form of poker, and the game’s greatest early practitioners all called the Lone Star State home, but the state of Texas has always looked at poker as an illegal activity.

For decades, if you wanted to find a game of poker in Texas you’d have to locate an underground game or card room.

Thanks to a loophole in Texas law, and a group of enterprising businessmen that is beginning change.

A handful of “legal” poker rooms have begun to pop up in Texas. Whether they remain open is anyone’s guess.

The Texas gambling laws

Texas law seemingly forbids poker, and outside of charity games and unraked home games, no one has challenged Texas’s ban on for-profit poker games.

Section 47.02 of the Texas Penal Code states, it’s an offense if a person:

(3) plays and bets for money or other things of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device.

But it also states:

(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:

Legal

(1) the actor engaged in gambling in a private place;

(2) no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings; and

(3) except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants.

A literal reading of the law would lead you to believe, poker is a-ok, so long as:

How To Run A Legal Poker Room
  • you’re in a private building;
  • no one is profiting from hosting the game; and
  • the game is fair.

How the legal card rooms work

The card rooms that are popping up in Texas are private clubs that provide rake-free poker games, as well as bridge, backgammon, chess, and beyond. Instead of a rake, which would make the game illegal per the Texas Penal Code cited above, the clubs charge membership fees, and in some cases seat rentals. The latter seems to be pushing the legality envelope even further.

Michael Eakman’s club, Mint Poker in Southeast Houston is one such example.

“In our conversations with the city attorney here in our jurisdiction, we made everyone aware of what we were doing before we even signed the lease,” Eakman told the Houston Chronicle. “I certainly don’t want to challenge anyone to bring a court case, but I think at the end of the day we’re handling this by being proactive instead of reactive is the way to do this … There are no regulations and guidelines other than the narrow scope of a very vague law.”

Of course, in addition to rake or a seat charge, the sentence, “no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings,” could cover membership fees.

Will they stay legal?

The million dollar question is: How will the Texas Legislature react to these rooms?

Another owner of a private card club, Sam VonKennel, helped create the Texas Association of Social Card Clubs to lobby the legislature.

“The Legislature hasn’t really seen it yet because it hasn’t really existed,” VonKennel told the local press. “As they pop up, I want to make sure the [legislature] is aware of them. What I would really like to do is get these guys to become licensed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and that way they’re absolutely certain they’re on the right side of the law.”

The problem is, the card rooms are new enough that they haven’t landed on the legislature’s radar yet, but like Daily Fantasy Sports, their success, and proliferation may end up being their undoing. Right now there are about a half dozen such clubs, but if they prove successful they’ll likely be popping up across the state.

University of Houston political science Professor Brandon Rottinghaus was quick to point out that being “technically legal” may not be a good enough argument, particularly in the conservative, and historically anti-gambling Texas legislature.

“It probably violates the spirit, if not the letter of the law,” Rottinghaus told the Houston Chronicle. “… in instances like that, there will definitely be a push back where the Attorney General and local law enforcement might take offense to the idea that there might be this illicit expansion of gambling, even if it’s not technically speaking illegal gambling.

“Trying to get around the law on this issue is never profitable. I think that’s the real danger that the people running these clubs have.

You may technically be in the right, but this issue is so fraught with politics and morality that you’re unlikely to succeed.”

Even if they’re deemed legal, I would expect the legislature to look at imposing regulations and taxation/licensing fees.

So, you’ve decided to run a charity poker event. Congratulations! We here at Cardplayer Lifestyle hope your event is successful and that it raises lots of money for your chosen charitable cause!

There are two types of charity poker events you can run: a tournament or a cash game session. You can either make it an invitation-only event or open it up to the public (to maximize attendance and donations); depending on how many poker tables your venue has room for.

Charity Poker Tournaments

There’s a good amount of logistics that goes into proper planning and running of a charity poker tournament. Generally speaking, the more effort you put into the event beforehand, the smoother it will run and the better the experience for all involved. From this poker blogger’s experience, it pays to make event pre-registration a must.

After all players are seated, but before tournament play begins, it’s an optimal time for you (or a representative of the non-profit organization) to speak briefly about the night’s charity beneficiary and the work they do.

Useful Tips

  • Designate a registration area to collect player entry fees and distribute table seating assignments.
  • Enlist the help of 1 volunteer per poker table to assist with setup, cleanup, and general event management.
  • Set up and double-check chip stacks before players are seated.
  • Prepare a blind structure and prize structure in advance and use a projector to display all relevant poker tournament information.
  • Have 2 decks of cards at each table. Assign a dealer and have the other players at the table shuffle the other deck. You get more hands played per blind level this way.

Charity Poker Cash Games

The mechanism behind charity poker cash games is rather simple. Each hand is raked at a pre-defined percentage of the pot (usually 5–10% with a hard cap). These monies then get pooled at the end of the event and donated to charity. Each table you set up can operate independently, choosing the stakes and games being spread.

The main advantage of a charity poker cash game session is that there’s far less micromanagement necessary over the course of the evening. There’s no need to break up and combine tables or assign seats, and players won’t get locked out of the event in case they don’t show up on time.

Useful Tips

  • Have 2 decks of cards at each table. Get a volunteer to deal and the other players at the table to shuffle. This helps increase the number of hands played (and the charity rake!) over the course of the night.
  • Assign someone trustworthy to handle all the money at each table.
  • Set rules for minimum and maximum buy-ins, as well as moving from table to table.
  • Optional: Have all players contribute a small sum towards a jackpot, given to the first player who hits a designated hand (e.g., 4 Jacks). If nobody hits the jackpot by the end of the night, the jackpot money is also donated to the charity.

Charity Poker Event Checklist

No charity poker event is complete without the right equipment and refreshments. Here’s a basic list of the things you should have prepared in advance:

  • Hall/venue with enough tables, chairs, and tablecloths
  • Per table: 300 poker chips, 2 decks of cards, 1 cash box
  • Refreshments station with hot and cold drinks, snacks, plastic cutlery
  • For tournaments: laminated seating cards, list of players, laptop, projector screen, envelopes for cash prizes
  • Optional: cut cards, chip racks, camera, opening remarks

If you’d like to donate the proceeds of your event to a Cardplayer Lifestyle charity poker partner, check out ourCharity Poker Donationspage.

Disclaimer

Running a charity poker event may or may not be legal in your jurisdiction. If you intend to hold your event in a public venue, you are strongly encouraged and advised to check with the appropriate local authorities that doing so is legal before proceeding with your plans. If you hold a charity poker event in a private residence, inviting only people you know personally, you will usually not run afoul of any local laws, but it never hurts to check twice, just to be sure.