The Texas District and County Attorneys Association in Austin is going after public poker tournaments, by proactively seeking an opinion from the Texas Attorney General that free public poker tournaments which use a points-based or similar system to give out prizes are illegal.
To bolster his interpretation of Texas’ gambling laws, Kypreos is seeking an opinion from the Texas attorney general’s office on the legality of public poker games that use a point system.
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Police and prosecutors are waiting for similar guidance before cracking down on public poker games, said Richard Alpert, Tarrant County assistant district attorney.
The amazing part of this is that Markus Kypreos, the research attorney making this case, is contending that public slot online tournaments are illegal even if they are free. I thought the above article had it wrong until I read his own article from the November-December TDCAA Prosecutor newsletter:
Two blocks from the TDCAA office, a sign hangs from a restaurant balcony: “Free Texas Hold Em Tournament Every Saturday.” This has become an all too-common attempt to circumvent the law. These poker clubs, which use local restaurants and bars to hold their tournaments, eliminate the entry fee and allow the public to play for free. They then award the winners points. Over several months, players can use their points to redeem valuable rewards and prizes. Some establishments even award vacations. So why are these poker clubs illegal?
He then goes on to contend that players are playing for something of value, and therefore the contest is illegal. Kypreos is conveniently overlooking the fact that the Texas penal code is very clear:
“Bet” means an agreement to win or lose something of value solely or partially by chance.
I can’t see it likely that he will succeed in effectively redefining “bet” as including agreements to simply win something of value based on chance, with no chance of losing. If that were to occur, a whole swath of promotional games and activities in Texas would suddenly be as illegal as the so-called “illegal poker clubs” (read: bars and restaurants offering free tournaments) that this radical anti-poker lobbyist is trying to get banned.
four poker thieves caught in san antonio
On Friday night, four armed thieves robbed a poker game in San Antonio and were then caught by police. From the article, the foursome were local construction workers and do not sound like they are related to the recent Austin robberies.
The four suspects were charged with aggravated robbery, according to the police report. Their names were not released because they had yet to see a judge as of Saturday afternoon.
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An officer said the suspects are construction workers who had a job at a nearby house. They are accused of stealing more than $1,500, seven wallets, 70 poker chips, four cell phones and several pieces of jewelry.
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