|
Poker
is Legal at This Bar
The
Sports Bar and Billiards on the West
Side is doing what several other bars in
the area are doing – they are offering
poker games, and they are legal. It is
not legal in the state, only because
traditionally people had to pay to enter
a poker tournament, so the bars got the
idea of offering the tournaments for
free, and thus they are legal.
Sports Bar is not the only one, there is
also Clicks Billiards, Uncle Paulie’s
Club, 915, and Speaking Rock
Entertainment Center. They all offer the
game for free, and some offer it
nightly. They hold Texas Hold’em
Tournaments for the mostly young men who
come to the bar for the games. With no
buy in, and no requirement for their
patrons to buy food or drinks, there is
no money involved – and that makes them
legal, sort of.
There is some money involved, since
someone does win money at some point. At
Clicks, the bar pays the entry fee for
their players, who then have the chance
to win $2,000. At 915, players can win
cash prizes totaling $300 for the top
three players every night of the week.
The bars get people in buying drinks and
food anyway, and their patrons have the
chance at leaving there with more money
than they came in with.
The El Paso Police Department keeps an
eye on the places, making sure that they
are run legally. They say that for
gambling to be legal in Texas it must
take place in a private place, no one
can profit off of the game except for
their private winnings, and everyone
must have the same chance at winning the
game – which only means that each
person’s own skill or the amount of luck
afforded them are the catalysts that set
one player from another. They say that
bars are not actually private places,
but that does not matter because they
are not charging people for coming to
the games.
Back to Monthly
Archive //
Main Slot Machine News Index
 |