HOUSTON - Gambling maybe illegal in Texas, but card rooms are popping up across the state and here in Houston.
However, city officials say they won't issue anymore permits until Attorney General Ken Paxton weighs in this summer.
The chips are down and the bets placed, but this isn't Las Vegas -- it's Houston.
"I was a poker player myself," said Daniel Kebort, who says opening Post Oak Poker Club was his dream. "We have doctors and lawyers and decision makers and a lot of influential decision makers from the city of Houston that come in here and enjoy this facility."
But is it legal? Houston City Councilman Greg Travis says no.
"It's illegal in the state law, as far as I'm concerned. People say it's a gray area, I think it's black and white," said Travis, who represents District G, including the neighborhood where the poker club is located.
If you look at Texas law, Chapter 47 of the Texas Penal Code outlaws gambling. But there's an exception if you're doing it in a private place.
There's no economic benefit, and all players have the same risk, meaning they don't play against the house. Poker rooms like Kebort's are operating under that exception.
"I think there's perception disconnection with what we actually are and what some people may assume us to be," he said.
So how does his business work? They charge a $10 initiation fee, $15 to walk in the door, and then an additional $15 an hour to rent a seat to play.
When asked why some consider the seat fees an economic benefit, Kebort objects.
"Our opinion of that phrase is it's strictly there to eliminate commercial gambling," he said.
A state representative wrote a letter asking the Attorney General Paxton to weigh in on if those fees they collect are allowed under the law. However, before the letter was requested, Post Oak Poker was able to get a game room permit from the City of Houston.
Councilman Travis says it's a permit he questions.
"We're trying to figure out why they gave the permit, because the permits were meant for those video game rooms and trying to prevent those from occurring, and so I don't even think that applies," Travis said.
So how did they get a game room permit from city hall? When KHOU called city officials, they told us they issued two of these poker permits last year because of an ordinance mentioning card games. However, now they're not issuing anymore until the attorney general's opinion.
Until then, the owners of Post Oak Poker will continue to roll the dice.
"Poker does belong in the spotlight. It's not something that should be tucked into the underground of the back corners of the city," Kebort said.
Similar poker rooms are operating in Austin, but in Dallas, they've been shut down. The Attorney General usually issues opinions in 180 days, that would be the end of July.
