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Lodge Poker Room - Austin Texas - Raided this morning by TABC (7 Viewers)

dkersey said:
Did the fuzz ever indicate what they thought was going that was illegal
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They dropped the money laundering charges. But the other charges they presented to the Grand Jury were a direct attack on the business model/loophole the clubs have used.

They were claiming that The Lodge was receiving an "economic benefit" by charging memberships, time fees, selling food, running a livestream, etc. and thus was in violation of the law and conducting illegal gambling, etc.

The Grand Jury REJECTED all charges and the authorities were left with no choice but to return the money they seized via civil asset forfeiture.

And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
 
Anthony Martino said:
And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
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Talk about a salty loser.
 
Anthony Martino said:
They dropped the money laundering charges. But the other charges they presented to the Grand Jury were a direct attack on the business model/loophole the clubs have used.

They were claiming that The Lodge was receiving an "economic benefit" by charging memberships, time fees, selling food, running a livestream, etc. and thus was in violation of the law and conducting illegal gambling, etc.

The Grand Jury REJECTED all charges and the authorities were left with no choice but to return the money they seized via civil asset forfeiture.

And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
Click to expand...

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Anthony Martino said:
They dropped the money laundering charges. But the other charges they presented to the Grand Jury were a direct attack on the business model/loophole the clubs have used.

They were claiming that The Lodge was receiving an "economic benefit" by charging memberships, time fees, selling food, running a livestream, etc. and thus was in violation of the law and conducting illegal gambling, etc.

The Grand Jury REJECTED all charges and the authorities were left with no choice but to return the money they seized via civil asset forfeiture.

And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why it takes 2 years to perform secret undercover investigations of a business that you believe is in violation of the law when they said up front this is the way they are going to do business. If they believed their business model is illegal, they just needed to show the original business start up documents they gave the authorities. A one time customer visit should have been able to confirm the business model. No investigation should have been needed. Our tax dollars at work...
 
Anthony Martino said:
They dropped the money laundering charges. But the other charges they presented to the Grand Jury were a direct attack on the business model/loophole the clubs have used.

They were claiming that The Lodge was receiving an "economic benefit" by charging memberships, time fees, selling food, running a livestream, etc. and thus was in violation of the law and conducting illegal gambling, etc.

The Grand Jury REJECTED all charges and the authorities were left with no choice but to return the money they seized via civil asset forfeiture.

And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure how much of that bothers me. If Texas wants to allow this sort of thing, they should change the law. If Texas doesn’t want to allow this sort of thing, they should change the law. But allowing huge businesses to operate in this gray area loophole? I don’t care for it. And I bet there are a whole bunch of dealers and waitresses and players who would agree.
 
As long as it stays in the gray area that leaves it open to wide interpretation. Exactly how government likes it (lifelong public servant here). They don't want it defined that is too B&W.

Not that I agree with any of the way it was handled, but I still say it will happen again. Operating under the current conditions is a huge gambol for these room operators.

Only hope is to elect better representatives.......
 
Anthony Martino said:
They dropped the money laundering charges. But the other charges they presented to the Grand Jury were a direct attack on the business model/loophole the clubs have used.

They were claiming that The Lodge was receiving an "economic benefit" by charging memberships, time fees, selling food, running a livestream, etc. and thus was in violation of the law and conducting illegal gambling, etc.

The Grand Jury REJECTED all charges and the authorities were left with no choice but to return the money they seized via civil asset forfeiture.

And the person who was the one who started all of this shit was that lawyer guy who doesn't even live in TX, he's from Illinois, that previously had sued Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme for running an illegal gambling operation. He contacted the authorities who began the investigation that spanned almost 2 years and resulted in plenty of taxpayer funds wasted, plenty of man-hours of public servants wasted and hundreds of lives upended when people lost their jobs and players had money tied up in boxes, chips and tournament payouts they couldn't recover while the "investigation" continued.
Click to expand...
What a grade A chode…
 
How bad does a case have to be to fail in front of a grand jury in Texas? A grand jury has twelve members here and you need only get nine out of twelve to issue an indictment. The defense doesn't even know what the grand jury is considering, may not even know it exists. There is no cross examination of the prosecutor's witnesses and no defense witnesses. Just the DA presenting his case to a jury in secret. And they can't get 75% of the jury to agree to indict.

To be sure, the relationship between prosecution and juries have been strained the last year. Perhaps understandable in Austin or Houston or another large metropolitan area. But this is in Round Rock - a "by the book / law and order" sort of county. Still the DA can't get the jury to support the charges.

Unbelievable -=- DrStrange
 
DrStrange said:
How bad does a case have to be to fail in front of a grand jury in Texas? A grand jury has twelve members here and you need only get nine out of twelve to issue an indictment. The defense doesn't even know what the grand jury is considering, may not even know it exists. There is no cross examination of the prosecutor's witnesses and no defense witnesses. Just the DA presenting his case to a jury in secret. And they can't get 75% of the jury to agree to indict.

To be sure, the relationship between prosecution and juries have been strained the last year. Perhaps understandable in Austin or Houston or another large metropolitan area. But this is in Round Rock - a "by the book / law and order" sort of county. Still the DA can't get the jury to support the charges.

Unbelievable -=- DrStrange
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I've heard that contrary to the usual course of action, The Lodge was permitted to actually speak in their defense before the Grand Jury handed down the rejection of charges.
 
Anthony Martino said:
View attachment 1683668

Also heard the lodge posted the search warrant on their wall

Will confirm tonight at the grand reopening
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Love Garrett’s poker game, but Survivor was hilarious, what a douche. I recently stumbled across his survivor season; I’d watched it years ago, but I’d forgotten. Early on, a crazy chick dumped the tribe’s rice into the fire, but the tribe voted off Garrett. And it seemed like it was all his fault. Amazing lack of awareness. Stunning.
 
upNdown said:
I’m not sure how much of that bothers me. If Texas wants to allow this sort of thing, they should change the law. If Texas doesn’t want to allow this sort of thing, they should change the law. But allowing huge businesses to operate in this gray area loophole? I don’t care for it. And I bet there are a whole bunch of dealers and waitresses and players who would agree.
Click to expand...

TheBigTater said:
As long as it stays in the gray area that leaves it open to wide interpretation. Exactly how government likes it (lifelong public servant here). They don't want it defined that is too B&W.

Not that I agree with any of the way it was handled, but I still say it will happen again. Operating under the current conditions is a huge gambol for these room operators.

Only hope is to elect better representatives.......
Click to expand...

Texas has a unique propensity for big fish small pond politics and tends to operate with that mindset at a “local” level.

Leaving things open ended allows for “discretion” which in turn makes the small pond big fish bigger….

At least where I am - school board, city representatives, etc….
 
Budha said:
Texas has a unique propensity for big fish small pond politics and tends to operate with that mindset at a “local” level.

Leaving things open ended allows for “discretion” which in turn makes the small pond big fish bigger….

At least where I am - school board, city representatives, etc….
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Sounds kinda unamerican to me. But we’re not talking about America are we. You do you, Texas.
 
upNdown said:
Sounds kinda unamerican to me. But we’re not talking about America are we. You do you, Texas.
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Not sure I’d say unamerican, but all those movies about the “boss” bad guy that controls the small town - like Roadhouse.
There’s a reason they’re always based in TX - lol.

I’m exaggerating of course- lol. A lot of stuff in TX is run and managed at the local level vs other states so it makes the local politics very different. Coming from VA I can see pros and cons. Basically every town and city where I am is competing with its neighbors to have the “best” of something. Best school district, best athletics, fastest growth, etc.
 
Last edited:
Rather be lucky than good. One limper at 10/20/20k

I rip TT from SB, bb jams JJ. We both flop sets, I river quads

We had another hand earlier qq vs kk, both flopped sets, Q turned quads

2058.webp
 

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