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Lodge Poker Room - Austin Texas - Raided this morning by TABC (3 Viewers)

Was a matter of time. Wonder what the implications of the Texas card house industry will be. I've heard of smaller places getting raided but not any of the big fish (TCH, Lodge, et al) until now.
 
Honestly surprised it's taken this long for this to occur at one of the big card rooms down there.

You can only dance on the line of legal ambiguity for so long before the powers that be get fed up.
 
Hard to say if this is a gambling raid or an alcohol raid. Though it could become both. Was there any form of drink service offered at The Lodge? You would think so with TABC being involved.

I think we need to wait for clarification before writing the obituary of public card rooms in Texas.

Oh, and there might be a trial to get through too -=- DrStrange
 
The reddit thread seems to hint of under age alcohol service. Someone stated they recently started letting 18-20 year olds play.
 
Is this the room “owned” by Doug Polk, Brad Owen, etc? If so, do we know if they are in custody and/if their vlogs will continue during incarceration? I am asking questions not making accusations.
 
BEANO52 said:
Reports say TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) came in with an alleged search warrant, would not allow players to cash out but let them leave with their chips.

Reddit Thread
PokerNews Article

@toothpic
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Didn't see this earlier and posted a duplciate thread!

With TABC involved it's likely due to alcohol. When playing at the tables I've never seen someone get asked for ID, but that makes sense as they likely have your license information and know your age I guess?

Lodge also has Odds Bar and Bistro which is a restaurant and bar. Maybe they aren't checking IDs enough there?
 
JMC9389 said:
Just my two cents, but bad move if they're serving alcohol.
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TCH started doing it first and pulled a lot of clientelle because of it. The ability to go play, get a pretty decent meal and a beer or liquor was a huge plus for a lot of people. Remember, many of the players are playing recreationally for fun.
 
toothpic said:
TCH started doing it first and pulled a lot of clientelle because of it. The ability to go play, get a pretty decent meal and a beer or liquor was a huge plus for a lot of people. Remember, many of the players are playing recreationally for fun.
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I was referring more to letting 18 to 20 year olds play. That and alcohol is a bad mix. Choose one and they'll be in the clear.
 
JMC9389 said:
I was referring more to letting 18 to 20 year olds play. That and alcohol is a bad mix. Choose one and they'll be in the clear.
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Yea that's interesting. I don't know anything about the age limit change. Too old and far from that I guess lol. I always thought it was 21+

EDIT: yea cash game is 18+. Not sure how that works but if you're sitting at the table playing they have your profile pulled up and should know if you're 21 or older to order a drink when the waitress comes by? Or maybe they didn't care and just wanted the sales, which lead to to where they are now.

https://thelodgepokerclub.com/house-rules/
 
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Searched with AI so take it with a grain of salt.

1773185084600.webp


Found an old Facebook post too.
1773185153330.webp
 
Most, maybe all, poker in TX and Oklahoma is 18+ as far as I know. Curious if this is just a serving to <21 or if it’s using the TABC to hassle a business that someone thinks is a nuisance
 
I really don't understand from a business standpoint the need to expand memberships from 21+ to 18+. You have to go through all these extra steps to be in compliance from an alcohol sales perspective and for what? Is the 18 - 20 demographic so lucrative that it's worth it? I'm pretty doubtful.
 
Kain8 said:
I really don't understand from a business standpoint the need to expand memberships from 21+ to 18+. You have to go through all these extra steps to be in compliance from an alcohol sales perspective and for what? Is the 18 - 20 demographic so lucrative that it's worth it? I'm pretty doubtful.
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Businesses don't think like us.

They see one extra dollar left on the table and think "What are we doing here??? Get that dollar!"
 
Kain8 said:
I really don't understand from a business standpoint the need to expand memberships from 21+ to 18+. You have to go through all these extra steps to be in compliance from an alcohol sales perspective and for what? Is the 18 - 20 demographic so lucrative that it's worth it? I'm pretty doubtful.
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Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
 
Kain8 said:
I really don't understand from a business standpoint the need to expand memberships from 21+ to 18+. You have to go through all these extra steps to be in compliance from an alcohol sales perspective and for what? Is the 18 - 20 demographic so lucrative that it's worth it? I'm pretty doubtful.
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When it comes to gambling? It might be! Lot of value to hookin' em early. But agreed, seems like a lot more risk.
 
Agreed that the addition of 18-20 makes it complicated for alcohol sales, but they make revenue by hourly sales of seat usage and membership fees. If they don't do that here, other places are allowing 18-20 to play so they would lose that share of the market plus any groups who want to also mingle with the 18-20 player base.
 
There are 44,000 undergraduate students at UT Austin. Just guessing, that is 25,000 to 30,000 under 21. Tens of thousands of young college students is a pretty tempting prize to go for. More so if the other poker rooms in town are also in the mix.

The joint risk of alcohol service and under 21 gambling customers would be the big problem to me. TABC has enormous latitude on what is/isn't legal and how to enforce the law. They also get to "enforce" now "have trial later" meaning they can close you down today and have the trial in 2027, if they so choose.

Seems to me that the Lodge got too greedy, they could perhaps have safely served 18-21 year-old gamblers OR served alcohol but doing both proved a step too far -=- DrStrange
 
Is it ok to bring up the fact that the US allows kids to gamble money away and go into debt and addiction because of it, but don't allow them to enjoy a beer until they are 21?

Slight derail, but gambling apps and their ads, especially sports gambling is atrocious, and they make so much money off it that they won't make a change until years later when they suddenly "realize" how terrible it is for everyone.
 
DrStrange said:
There are 44,000 undergraduate students at UT Austin. Just guessing, that is 25,000 to 30,000 under 21. Tens of thousands of young college students is a pretty tempting prize to go for. More so if the other poker rooms in town are also in the mix.

The joint risk of alcohol service and under 21 gambling customers would be the big problem to me. TABC has enormous latitude on what is/isn't legal and how to enforce the law. They also get to "enforce" now "have trial later" meaning they can close you down today and have the trial in 2027, if they so choose.

Seems to me that the Lodge got too greedy, they could perhaps have safely served 18-21 year-old gamblers OR served alcohol but doing both proved a step too far -=- DrStrange
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From the perspective of said students, it would sound incongruous to me that a poker hall would be the path of least resistance for underage drinking options. There have to be countless mixers and parties to attend where the liquor would flow freely.


I bet every poker hall is going to stop offering any memberships to that age group. The growth in your rake doesn't matter one iota if you get raided and shut down.
 
@DrStrange doses Texas still require a certain 'percentage threshold' of food to alcohol sales?

I haven't seen anything reporting confiscation of gambling equipment or involvement of IRS, so could be as simple as a TABC licensing violation.
 
Could it just be they had an undercover that was served without asking for ID than they make the raid to make sure the standards are kept. Don’t know but just speculating. I know in Virginia they will send ABC undercover people to test to see if bars and restaurants card for alcohol sales. The “raid” seems dramatic but maybe it’s how TABC handles the situation. Also the money flow thru ion an establishment like a cardroom I’m sure has them handle a situation a certain way.
 
There are different types of licenses in Texas, one where food is at least 51% of sales "restaurant" and one with no food requirements "bar". I don't think the door charge and seat fees would count towards the 51% threshold but only a lawyer could prudently answer that.

Yes, TABC commonly runs sting operations where they send in an underage shill to buy booze underage. How things proceed afterwards is at the discretion of the agents to an extent. Abrupt closure isn't common for a first-time basic offense, though it could be. TABC can also act if the agent believes the business has engaged in "moral turpitude". That can include a great many things, including poker.

Maybe the Lodge has had previous problems with underage service. Maybe this is a poker related action against the liquor license (not ruling the poker is illegal but that it is too immoral to allow poker to be played in a bar.)

FWIW, I have applied for various liquor permits in Texas and have a passing familiarity with the rules and the lack thereof -=- DrStrange
 
amstelnut said:
Could it just be they had an undercover that was served without asking for ID than they make the raid to make sure the standards are kept. Don’t know but just speculating. I know in Virginia they will send ABC undercover people to test to see if bars and restaurants card for alcohol sales. The “raid” seems dramatic but maybe it’s how TABC handles the situation. Also the money flow thru ion an establishment like a cardroom I’m sure has them handle a situation a certain way.
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I reached out to a friend of mine who has been in the bar business for many years now to ask what would led to a TABC raid. From his perspective a raid is a really big deal, bigger than just serving minors from time to time. Generally when they send agents in and you get caught, you get slapped with a hefty fine without too much delay and without the need for a warrant.

Poker Atlas shows them as still temporarily closed.

@Anthony Martino have you heard anything about Lodge?
 
I was just speculating. I agree a raid is more serious and probably leads more towards everything not above board from the poker side of the business.
 
Yup. A raid would mean you are seen as a menace to the public. Maybe grossly over serving people, maybe serving minors with disregard to the law, serving after hours, or other criminal activity also taking place where alcohol is served.

From my experience I haven't seen any other odd illegal activity, it always felt like a safe place to play for me. Didn't see many overly drunk people, with police on hand as security I didn't see fights inside or outside the establishment. Maybe they were just serving too many minors too easily or maybe their liquor setup wasn't update to date or adequate for what they were doing. I'm not sure.
 

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