- The bill would create a social-club carve-out for semi-private poker games, allowing members of these clubs to participate in games for real money without fear or reprisal or prosecution.
- Excluded activities include online poker, video poker, other casino games, and other forms of gambling such as bingo, lotteries, raffles, and parimutuel wagering.
- Late last year the Texas Poker Gaming Act of 2013 was introduced which would regulate poker as part of the Texas Lottery Commission.
A new bill that would establish a legal mechanism for “social poker” gaming clubs to operate within the state of Texas has been introduced by Texas State Representative Ryan Guillen.
Guillen, a Democrat from Rio Grande City, located west of McAllen on the Texas/Mexico border, introduced HB 2098 on Friday, tentatively referred to as the Texas Social Poker Gaming Act of 2013.
Guillen’s bill would create a social-club carve-out for semi-private poker games, allowing members of these clubs to participate in games for real money without fear or reprisal or prosecution.
The bill specifically excludes all theoretically related activities that could possibly be construed as poker, excepting the “brick and mortar”, physical dealing of hands itself. Excluded activities include online poker, video poker, other casino games, and other forms of gambling such as bingo, lotteries, raffles, and parimutuel wagering.
Under Guillen’s plan, clubs authorized to offer these semi-private poker games would be licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Hearings on the viability of the bill, which will first be introduced to committee, have not yet begun, If HB 2098 moves out of committee, it would still face a full Texas legislative vote, which would require a two-thirds majority of both the Assembly and Senate for approval.
Texas now has two poker bills to consider. Late last year the Texas Poker Gaming Act of 2013 was introduced which would regulate poker as part of the Texas Lottery Commission. The bill would allow existing pari-mutuel facilities, bingo halls and tribal gaming establishments to offer poker, but does not address the hotly debated topic of online poker.