Williamson County DA Issues Statement On Poker

It seems you can't turn on the television these days without seeing a poker tournament taking place. The card game is definitely all the rage.

It is poker tournaments in public venues that has at least one Central Texas county vowing to crack down on what some are calling illegal activity.

Gambling machines called 8 liners used to be all the rage. The appeal of these electronic slot machines has faded.

Poker is the new rage. Electronic poker machines are perfectly legal because the winner only earns bragging rights. The legality of poker tournaments in public places has come into question.

"We're probably fielding about three to four calls a week, just with questions about the legality of these tournaments," Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty said.

As a result, Duty has sent out a letter to media outlets and area businesses letting it be known the county is cracking down.

"Most of these tournaments are still illegal, and that's going to cause us to enforce the law because that's what we do," Duty said.


Duty says the Texas law is clear. First of all, she says gambling is only legal in a private place.

"That's where people run afoul of the law because they holding these tournaments in a public place," Duty said.

Also, she says the law states gambling is only legal if other than personal winnings, no one receives any economic benefit. In other words a restaurant, bar or waiter can't profit from that gambling by serving food or drinks. That brings into play the numerous Texas Hold 'em tournaments that take place in bars and restaurants, not only Williamson County, but all across the state including Travis County.

"It's that fine line you that you're talking about, and people don't really know which way to go, and out cities, county and state and whatnot, they don't really help us out much because they're really kind of in the shadows like we are as far as how things are supposed to be," waiter Chris Miller said.

Representatives for Travis County say they feel there's still enough gray area in the law to warrant further review.