Two bills that would open the doors in Texas for state-sanctioned, regulated, taxable poker (and other gambling) have been drafted and are beginning to make the rounds necessary to bring the issue to a vote on Nov. 7, 2007. Pokerati\’s favorite Houston semi-pro has the actual pending legislation on her blog.
Senate Joint Resolution No. 8 (sponsored by Rodney Ellis, D, Houston) calls to eliminate the Texas Lottery and Racing Commissions, replacing them with a Texas Gaming Commission … which would oversee the licensing of 12 \”casino-anchored destination attractions.\” Awesome. Two of them would be on islands in the Gulf of Mexico. Awesomer.
House Bill No. 653 (sponsored by Norma Chavez, D, El Paso) moves to amend 47.02 to allow charitable poker runs. You know … those ones with motorcycles. Hmm. OK. While this has little to do with qualifying for the WSOP, it\’s not a bad start. But at the same time, this bill should also call for plain-ole charity poker. You know, the kind that would bring La Riata back to its former fundraising glory.
This House bill is clearly the work of the Texas motorcycle lobby, which has been around much longer than anything poker … so it\’s not surprising they\’ve got their act together. But poker lovers (especially the high society charity sort) might want to take note and not let this opportunity to improve the poker fundraising potential slip away.
Can the Texas Poker PAC or the TCPA send her a check or hand her a secret envelope or something to encourage some charity-minded revision? Perhaps our new-best motorcycle friends can tell us how it works? After all … big charity poker tourneys … we could help kids/give away Harley\’s!
