Texas Law

• Tex .gov >Texas Constitution and Statutes > Texas Legislature Online

Penal Code > title 10. Offenses Against Public Health, Safety, and Morals > Chapter 47. Gambling

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.47.htm

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• Texas State Law Library > What is Considered Gambling in Texas?

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/gambling

Texas is one of the strictest states when it comes to gambling and its laws can cover a wide variety of activities. Under Texas law, (Penal Code §47.02) gambling is considered a criminal offense if someone:

• makes a bet on the partial or final result of a game or contest or on the performance of a participant in a game or contest

• makes a bet on the result of any political nomination, appointment, or election or on the degree of success of any nominee, appointee, or candidate; or

• plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device.

 

The law does provide for some exceptions such as participating in the state lottery or placing bets on horse and greyhound dog races (sometimes referred to as pari-mutuel wagering).

 

The law also provides for some affirmative defenses to prosecution:

• the actor engaged in gambling in a private place;

• no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings; and

• except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants 

 

Additional exceptions include if the person reasonably believed their conduct:

• was permitted under Chapter 2001, Occupations Code; (Charitable Bingo)

• was permitted under Chapter 2002, Occupations Code; (Charitable Raffles)

• was permitted under Chapter 2004, Occupations Code; (Sports Charity Raffles)

 

The first page of [the] guide will provide you with an overview of the Texas laws on gambling while the subsequent pages will discuss more specific topics like bingo, eight-liners and poker.

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• Texas State Law Library Poker > Poker

https://guides.sll.texas.gov/gambling/poker-clubs

Because Texas laws on gambling are complex, determining whether or not a particular poker game is being conducted legally can prove challenging. Below you will find references to areas of Texas and federal law related to gambling and poker. If you find these statutes difficult to understand, please see the "Recent News" resources for a more "plain English" discussion of these laws.

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Articles 

• Former Gov. Rick Perry Backs Legal Sports Betting as New Spokesperson for Interest Group, The Texan, 17 November 2022   / Texas is among a minority of states that have not created a legal sports betting market since it became permissible under federal law.

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• Las Vegas Sands launches $2 million PAC to continue its push to legalize casinos in Texas, The Texas Tribune, 24 February, 2022 

The new Texas Sands PAC has already spread over half a million dollars across roughly three dozen primaries for the state House and Senate.

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• Cashing Out? City Of Dallas Revokes ‘Poker Room’ Permits Months After Approving Them  

CBSDFW, 20 January, 2022

It’s among hottest and most profitable small businesses in Dallas right now, but it could soon be shut down by the city despite backing from the city council member who welcomed it to his district.​

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•  Gambling in Texas: How poker rooms legally operate given 'gray areas'

Spectrum News 1, 20 July 2021

Texas is one of the strictest states when it comes to gambling, and the legality of poker rooms is argued often... But District 12 Dallas City Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn is pushing for a change to the city code, so future poker rooms can’t open in a retail space without a specific use permit or consideration of nearby residential zoning to prevent them from opening where they aren’t wanted... "Poker rooms are not going to be welcomed in communities where they back up the single family housing" [said City Councilmember Mendelsohn]... Mendelsohn says Texas law states gambling is illegal, no “gray areas” about it. She says poker rooms are unwelcome in District 12, and if anyone pursues gambling in Collin County, the District Attorney is “happy to prosecute them for illegal gambling.”

 

"Gambling is illegal in Texas. So, if the poker operators want to make it legal, they need to get themselves to Austin and get them to pass a bill. But right now, when you look at Chapter 47, it seems pretty clear that it's illegal. They would argue that there's some gray space in there. And so probably, this is headed to a lawsuit. Whether that happens because of Collin County, or whether that happens because of somewhere else doesn't much matter,” Mendelsohn said.

 

Mendelsohn also raised the point that while the penal code states it’s a defense to prosecution if the “gambling occurred in a private place,” anyone could become a member at a poker club, so it should be clarified as a cover charge.

 

“They talk about the whole notion of, ‘Is it public or not public? Oh, people have to pay a membership when they come in.’ But if anyone can become a member, that’s public. That’s just a cover charge,” Mendelsohn said.

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•  Dispute over 24/7 poker room in Hulen Pointe Mall resolved

TCU 360, 29 April 2021

Plans for a 24/7 poker room folded last week when Fort Worth City Council members rejected plans for a gambling facility in Hulen Pointe Shopping Center. Earlier in the month, the Fort Worth Zoning Commission gave its unanimous approval to a conditional use permit that would have allowed the facility to open in the strip center off South Hulen Street and Hulen Bend Boulevard in Southwest Fort Worth. The strip mall is surrounded by apartment complexes and near the Hulen Bend and Wedgwood neighborhoods.

 

Fort Worth council member Jungus Jordan, who represents District 6 where the poker room would have been located, objected to the plan. “I opposed this use in a family-oriented shopping center and nearby family-oriented residential neighborhoods,” Jordan said in a statement. “I reached out to neighborhoods, listened to their concerns and encouraged residents to let their concerns be heard at council.”

 

Dr. Jared Williams, a city council candidate for District 6, was among hundreds of residents who signed a petition against the poker room opening at Hulen Pointe.... “Over the past few weeks, I’ve had countless conversations with my neighbors across Fort Worth,” Williams said. “We are dismayed that this process was not transparent and did not engage our neighbors in a meaningful way.”

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• Article: Hold ’Em or Fold ’Em: Policing Texas Poker Rooms for Profit

Texas Bar Blog, 24 February 2020

Despite a criminal statute banning gambling in Texas, approximately 30 establishments have taken advantage of perceived loopholes in the law to operate openly as private poker clubs... Gambling participants are subject to prosecution for a Class C misdemeanor while those who promote gambling or keep a gambling place face Class A misdemeanor liability... Seeking to operate as legitimate businesses, current day gambling concerns have taken advantage of the “private place” and “economic benefit” provisions outlined as defenses to gambling prosecutions. 

 

In May 2019, police raided two of Houston’s largest private poker clubs: Prime Social Poker Club and Post Oak Poker Club. The Harris County District Attorney held a press conference announcing the raid and issued the following news release: Poker rooms are illegal in the State of Texas. We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized criminal crime charges against owners and operators. Players are not being targeted.

 

• Article: The Perils of Semi-Legal Poker, By exploiting a legal loophole, two friends tried to build gambling businesses in Texas. They were dealt very different hands.

The New Yorker, 10 September 2019

Such games, held in what the law sees as a “private place,” are sheltered from the state’s anti-gambling rules by what’s known as the social-gambling defense… “There’s no question of whether gambling is legal in Texas—it’s not,” Ogg said. “Parts of Texas are liberal, and parts are conservative. In rural areas, they’re opposed. In urban areas, they aren’t. In big cities, these clubs have proliferated due to lack of investigation and prosecution.” (The exception is Dallas/Fort Worth, which has shut down all its poker clubs.) She went on, “It’s important to understand that the Attorney General and the Texas legislature could have cleared this up, and they chose not to. 

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• Article: Texas’ Membership-only Card Clubs Circumvent Gambling Laws

ReortingTexas .com, 21 April, 2019

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