Julian in Dallas writes in with some official information about this past weekend\’s poker busts, and … perhaps like a player intentionally showing his hole cards? … informs Dallas pokerers about what the police plan to do next.
(Austin poker people may also want to take note.)
In a nutshell, I think what he\’s saying is stop playing poker giving citizens reason to complain about illegal gambling … or their gonna getcha, and might possibly sick the Feds on yo ass! As things stand now, 79 players were ticketed this weekend, 18 of whom are soon to be arrested … with some TABC violations to boot.
Hey, I\’m just passing on info — and perhaps contemplating hosting a charity tournament freeroll for the Assist the Officers Foundation — so don\’t shoot the messenger:
Dan …
Just FYI, we did not take the persons charged with M/A Keeping a Gambling Place to jail on Saturday night. Those charges have now been filed and those persons will now be picked up and placed in jail. In the future, all persons charged with M/A Keeping a Gambling Place will be placed in jail. Persons charged with M/C gambling are also subject to arrest and could be placed in jail depending on the circumstances. All persons recently charged with Gambling M/C were issued citations and released.
For the purposes of your website, I think you all should know that the Vice Unit would much rather have voluntary compliance from the businesses and citizens of the City of Dallas. Gambling investigations are in fact time consuming operations and we have other priorities that we could be working on. Let me repeat, we would rather have voluntary compliance from a group of normally law abiding citizens. If we cannot get that compliance then we will have to conduct operations that will ultimately discourage those normally law abiding citizens from engaging in such behavior.
The Vice Unit plans to continue to address citizen complaints regarding illegal gambling operations within the City of Dallas. However, the Vice Unit will soon start the process of conducting operations that will lead us to the filing of more serious charges against the operators, businesses and players. Gambling is illegal and the citizens of Dallas expect us to enforce those laws as long as they are in place. The Vice Unit will soon consider the filing of Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, IRS violations, drug charges and violations of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. The owners and operators of these criminal enterprises need to also understand that ultimately, we will come after them, their businesses and their assets. There are many rehab in Los Angeles that will be very helpful for people to get rid of their drug addiction permanently from their life.Again, I think it is only fair to put out this information so that everyone involved in an illegal gambling operation will understand the ramifications of their actions. As I previously told you, we get information from the citizens of Dallas regarding these gambling operations weekly. When they move or change operations we hear about it, just like the folks on your website.
Other operations are currently being planned and will be conducted. Whenever you or your website have questions or hear about one of our operations please feel free to ask about them. I am more than happy to give you the correct information so that it can be disseminated as appropriate.
Here are the recent locations and operations conducted.
Friday Night 4-13-07
Island Club, 10834 Ferguson Road
2 – Keeping a Gambling Place M/A
8 – Gambling M/C
1 – TABC Open Saloon
Seized 2 poker tables, assorted gambling paraphernalia and $2,873.00Am Vets Post 106, 2308 Oates
3 – Keeping a Gambling Place M/A
6 – Gambling M/C
Seized 7 tables, assorted gambling paraphernalia and $776.00Slick Billiard, 2344 Oates
1 – Keeping a Gambling Place M/A
TABC ViolationsSaturday night:
VFW Post, 2325 Lakeland
12 – Keeping a Gambling Place M/A
47 – Gambling M/C
1 – TABC Open SaloonSeized 12 poker tables, assorted gambling paraphernalia and $6,882.00
Deputy Chief J. A. Bernal
Narcotics Division and Vice Unit
Dallas Police Department
Thanks much for clarifying, Deputy Chief. But wow, the Am Vets? For $776? Really?
Remember, a clear majority of the citizenry supports your rights to play better poker. (75 percent according to TV news polls.) So write your representative — and any politically heeled friends — in support of HB 3186. It\’s the best chance we have right now, imho, not only to make our own lives easier, but also to free up our undercover/uniformed friends to some day sit down and play an enjoyable game of poker with us while while off-duty, not on- … perhaps after a hard-day\’s work fighting crime?