Texas Online Poker News
Poker News Daily is one of the top resources for poker strategy, news, player profiles, reviews and more. Must be 18+ years or older to gamble. Latest News December 15, 2020 1. Big-Name Pros Fall on Day 2, WSOP Main Event Final Table Set December 15, 2020 2. Australia’s Star Gold Coast Offers COVID-Free, Mask-Less Poker.
One of the greatest mysteries in the world of poker is the notion that Texas Hold’em – and any other kind of poker game – is illegal in the state of Texas. No matter the mainstream popularity of poker or the many reports showing the level of skill overrides luck in the game, Texas lawmakers have never legalized casinos or card rooms.
The state of Texas tends to be a conservative one, and the second largest state in America has been dominated by Republicans for several decades. A predominantly Republican legislature tends to lean toward old-fashioned and religious values that put poker in a gambling category as a vice and generally troublesome activity.
Poker players, however, are looking to change that. And if it has to be done through the normalization of social card clubs and court battles, so be it.
Gambling in Texas
Despite the stereotype of cowboys sitting around poker tables in the backrooms of seedy establishments playing cards, Texas has been one of the slowest states to adopt any pro-gambling laws. And even into 2017, there are only a few legal gambling-related activities.
The lottery began in 1992, but pari-mutuel wagering had been legal since 1987 when voters passed a referendum to legalize it. Simulcast wagering then took hold a few years later, and there are numerous horse and greyhound tracks across the state. And there is one – only one – casino in Texas, operated by the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. The Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino was one of three tribal-run casinos in Texas at one time, but the other two were closed in 2002. The Kickapoos continue to run their casino, which opened in 1996 and offers bingo, poker, blackjack, pull-tabs, and now slot machines. It has somehow escaped the legal challenges that closed its two competitors.
A Long Fight for Poker
Efforts to legalize land-based card rooms in Texas gained momentum in the aftermath of Chris Moneymaker’s 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event win. The poker boom put the game on television, online, and in casinos around the globe. Some players ran private games, but the number of armed robberies and police raids grew fast enough to discourage some of those events.
But no matter the motivation to legalize the game in Texas, there was never sufficient support in the legislature to push a bill forward. Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston did put forth bills in 2012 and 2013 to legalize casinos with poker games, but he never found enough co-sponsors to help with the push or even enough momentum to garner a hearing.
Ironically, US Representative Joe Barton of Texas was one of the legislators to introduce legislation on the federal level to legalize online poker in America. He proposed the Internet Poker Freedom Act in 2015 after failed attempts in 2011 and 2013, but that failed as well.
A Different Tactic
Since offering a poker game for money and collecting rake is illegal in Texas, others are opening poker rooms as private clubs. One of the most recent ones is the Post Oak Poker Club in Houston, which just opened in August 2017.
Join me this Friday 6-8p at the Post Oak Poker Club! ♠️♥️♦️♣️ Every detail is here ~> https://t.co/ZfqY5AcCbLpic.twitter.com/TAo9zEKUUU
— TheresaRockFace (@TheresaRockFace) August 2, 2017
The business model is similar to a country club, only the business is poker. Membership is required, and the company’s website offers “no commission tournaments and rake free cash games, spreading Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud and more.” The club then makes its money from memberships and seat rental fees instead of charging rake, thereby skirting the law.
Owner Daniel Kebort says he has a longer-term vision for such clubs, as he wants them to be respected and eventually regulated by the state via a licensing structure that will allow them to grow in number. He hopes to make the establishments into entertainment destinations with liquor licenses and poker options, and with a growing clientele, the stakes of the games can vary even more in the future as well.
Look for me on tonight's segment covering the new Post Oak Poker Club on @KPRC2 ! pic.twitter.com/mpRtzZT7RN
— H-town Wiggy ?⚾⚽? (@HtownWiggy) August 10, 2017
However, clubs such as Post Oak are already seeing pushback from city council members who are afraid of criminal elements, late-night activities, and other potentially seedy activities. But with Post Oak being as transparent and open about his business and the legality of it as possible, there is little that politicians can do at this point.
Could these kinds of clubs open lawmakers’ eyes to the desire for card clubs or possibly casinos in Texas? That will depend on how many legislators pay attention or how many citizens gather signatures to put it on the ballot in an upcoming election.
Related Articles
Texas Online Poker Laws
Online poker players in the US have something of a tough time when it comes to choosing where to play. Naturally they want to play somewhere they can easily deposit and have a decent selection of games to choose from, and generally have a positive experience. This means playing somewhere that offers a range of deposit options, has plenty of players and uses quality poker software. Like anyone they face the difficulty of knowing which the good sites are and which are best steered clear of. They also have to deal with the fact that not all places accept US players, which does limit their options a little.
The good news is that several leading poker rooms do still welcome US players, although not all of them accept players from every state. As part of our service to our readers, we have carried out a great deal of research into online poker sites and what they have to offer. This research has enabled us to rank the top sites in a variety of categories, and below we have listed the best Texas poker sites. These are the places we recommend playing if you live in Texas. Further down this page we have explained how we go about ranking these, and we have also provided some information on the laws and legislation relating to poker in Texas.
Rating Texas Poker Sites
We employ a quite straightforward process for ranking poker websites, which basically involves researching a range of different sites and comparing what they have to offer. There are certain factors that we believe to be essential for a good poker room and the sites that perform best in those areas are the ones we rate highly. These factors include reliability and security, deposit and withdrawal options, quality of software, choice of games and stakes and traffic at the tables.
After determining the best sites based on these, and some other, factors, we then rank them in the different categories we cover. The sites that you see listed above are the highest rated sites that welcome players from the state of Texas.
Poker Laws in Texas
Texas Online Poker News 2020
Considering that poker is such a popular game in America, playing the game online is really not as straightforward as it could be. Ever since an act was introduced in 2006 (known as the UIGEA) that changed the laws on companies accepting payments relating to gambling, there has been much debate about the legalities of online poker in the US. There is no clear cut law that states it is illegal for a US resident to play poker online, but many places stopped accepting US customers because of challenges in dealing with deposits.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that laws and regulation relating to online gambling can vary from one state to the next, and there is also the assertion that poker is not gambling at all but rather a game of skill.
Gambling laws in Texas are quite strict and gambling is largely prohibited throughout the state. There are some exceptions such as parimutuel gambling and the state lottery, and there is a Native American run casino in the state, but for the most part gambling is simply not allowed. In terms of poker, you can play in a private residence but it is illegal to take a rake. It is also illegal to operate an online poker site in Texas, but there is no specific law that prohibits you from playing online.
There is every sign that the poker laws in Texas are going to be changed at some point in the future though, and there are currently a number of options being looked at. In March 2013 there was a proposal for allowing legal social poker establishments to offer live poker games, and a poker bill introduced towards the end of 2012 proposed the legalization and regulation of online poker under the authority of the Texas Lottery Commission.
Texas Online Poker News Update
Another development in 2013 was a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would mean Texas would automatically opt-in to any federal law that allowed for the licensing and regulation of online poker at a state level. Should this amendment be passed, it would mean that any state laws prohibiting online poker would be superseded should there be a federal law allowing for its regulation. It is not yet entirely clear what is likely to happen in Texas regarding online poker, but there are certainly efforts being to introduce appropriate legislation.