Texaggie7nine said:

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How many tables does he usually have going?

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Just 1

David_Puddy said:

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Texaggie7nine said:

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How many tables does he usually have going?

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Just 1

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What the heck is his seat charge?

Texaggie7nine said:

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David_Puddy said:

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Texaggie7nine said:

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How many tables does he usually have going?

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Just 1

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What the heck is his seat charge?

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10% of each pot

^
What he said

Oh, good point. I was actually in the room (we were in the middle of a jury trial) when the county showed up to try to close down one of the breastraunts in the summer of 2018 and figured they wanted the same relief (it was a hearing where they even brought Kim Ogg and Vince Ryan for political credibility). My bad. I just saw the May 1 filing date and figured they wanted a specific ancillary judge.

Well my brother intends to keep his poker club legal and open to the public.

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I get the risks involved, but I am still not seeing how this explanation then leads to the conclusion that the only explanation for these popping up across town is that these have to be backed by organized crime or shady people/money, which I believe is what you were stating or insinuating.

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They are popping up all over town because there's always a demand for vice industries and every Tom, Dick and Harry views it as a way to make money doing something fun and "cool".

Until they realize they aren't quite as informed on the law as they think (usually it's the same thing you've heard here "well as long as there's no rake its legal!" and an additional 10 minutes of google searching) and their funds get seized.

It's no different than a lot of the guys who opened up "medical marijuana" shops thinking as long as "wink wink, they just promote it for medical needs" then they were fine. They weren't.

In some cases when the legislation finally does change and whatever vice is legalized in one form or another they can do well -- but usually when that happens the well funded establishments who have been doing these things legally in other states swoop in and take over the market.

Is there money laundering going on at some of them? Sure... But that's just the easy excuse to shut them down.

Texaggie7nine said:

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Well my brother intends to keep his poker club legal and open to the public.

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Good for him....don't see the point in it if you're not making money out of hosting something like that, but to each their own.

He wouldn't be doing it if he wasn't making a profit. I just don't think that there is a very big margin. I could be wrong.

Drove by today and the building is up for sale. Sounds like a great investment opportunity!

What building?

I agree that the margins were likely small, but they are betting that eventually skill games are made legal in Texas and then they will have an established brand ready to "rake" it in. (Pun skills 1 hunnit)

g_werch said:

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I agree that the margins were likely small, but they are betting that eventually skill games are made legal in Texas and then they will have an established brand ready to "rake" it in. (Pun skills 1 hunnit)

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i'm assuming they had drinks and food for sale at these places as well.

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Is there money laundering going on at some of them? Sure... But that's just the easy excuse to shut them down.

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The prosecution's angle is that since (according to them) the activity is illegal, every dollar that went through (even to buy a Coke) is money laundering.

At least one of the venues did have a strong Bank Secrecy Act (anti-money laundering policy) policy and procedures. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Prime Social on Westheimer

Proposition Joe said:

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"If there is no rake it's not illegal" is right up there with "if I ask you if you're an undercover cop you have to tell me".

I'm going to open up a place where you can come in and pick whatever sports team you like and you can pay me a premium and I'll insure you if they lose.

It's not sports-booking though. No no. It's insurance. So it's legal.

You can make a case the laws need to be changed and you can make a case that it's a poor use of police resources... But these guys are profiting from running a gambling business.

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I get your points, but that is a horrific example.

Main difference being, the house is not incentivised by customers losing their money.

Somewhat related (enough that I didn't want to start a new thread):

https://www.khou.com/article/news/investigations/local-cops-are-cashing-in-on-illegal-game-rooms/285-0a199500-96c3-4a78-a26b-3517409134f8

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$17 MILLION SEIZED WITH LOW CONVICTION RATE

It is all allowed under Texas forfeiture laws, and it's big money for law enforcement. From 2014 through 2018, police agencies in Harris County seized more than $17 million from game rooms. But 55 percent, more than half, of those raids resulted in no convictions, according to a review of Harris County District Clerk records.

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But records show over the past five years, authorities rarely filed felony money laundering or organized crime cases that could shut down an operation, instead opting for low-level misdemeanor charges against game room employees, not the owners.
Institute for Justice attorney Anya Bidwell said those charges, with little consequences, result in a "revolving door" of game rooms getting raided and quickly re-opening.
"Instead of cracking down on crime, they're enabling it to continue to happen," Bidwell said.

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Long investigative story, mostly about game rooms that shut down and reopen on a revolving basis while PD's benefit from the seizures.

a very predictable outcome.

looks like someone called someone's bluff back in May.

and now the appropriate, um, connections have been reestablished

Not a gambler but happy this bogus crap was dismissed.

Bombshells went on across the street from my office and since we have had an incident at least once a week since. The most recent was some drunk chick driving through our fence. Lucky she wasn't seriously hurt on the razor wire or when she hit our 18 wheeler.

agnerd said:

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BMX Bandit said:

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That went well

https://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Ogg-dismisses-poker-room-cases-citing-conflict-14100499.php?ipid=mobbreaking

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Ogg cited potential conflicts of interests with a possible defense witness who is a former consultant and political fundraiser.

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That's not the half of it. The defense witness is not just a witness. He was on the payroll of the poker room to advocate for legal protection and to influence pro-gambling legislation. Turns out he was also on Ogg's payroll for legal financial council despite not being a lawyer. So Ogg was employing someone that was employed by someone else to influence her. SHE could actually face corruption charges over this one! I'll be lauging my a$$ off if that happens.

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The public corruption federal investigation on this one will make for an interesting rest of the year. I'm hearing it extends past Ogg to other county officials.

https://abc13.com/county-consultant-paid-nearly-$500k-before-raids-poker-rooms/5402360/

The current crop of elected Democrats in Harris County/Houston aren't even trying to pretend to have a veneer of legitimacy with the rampant corruption. Tony Buzbee may be a bit of a lunatic, but at least since he's already rich he doesn't have much of a need to be corrupt.

Boo Weekley said:

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So glad the lesbians in my dreams look nothing like Kim Ogg.

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Twenty-some-odd years ago I dated a girl who worked for Rusty Hardin and we went to a campaign event for Kim Ogg's run for judge. Rusty and all the big-time former DA's all backed her because at that time, she was just all hard-a pro-law, victim's rights, etc. I didn't know her or anything about her, but free booze.

So it doesn't take long to discover she is gay. She's fairly attractive, but has the butchy mannerisms, walk, etc. There was this other blonde chick working the room that was pretty much a bombshell. We asked who she was and found out she was the girlfriend. Total lipstick lez. My girlfriend was ready to convert.

That picture above shows the cruelty of time and age.

/csb

Panama Red said:

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She's fairly attractive,

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Know how I know you like dudes?

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Come on - think back 25 years. And I didn't say hot, I said "fairly attractive".