Our little Texas poker bill was chugging along well, and then I blinked … poof, and we were supposedly down to the proverbial chip-and-a-chair yesterday. For all our hard work to get it to the Calendars Committee and then let them know how much support it had from a diverse group of constituents … it was just sitting there? The blinds were eating us up, and, supposedly, we were about to take a bad beat from some arm-twisting higher-ups who had had just about enough.
(Note to self: politics is hard.)
But politics is about compromise — I truly believe that the more I learn about the game — not to mention perception of intent. Our opponents apparently didn\’t have a problem with poker so much as they did with the amount of poker we were trying to make possible in this bill. So as we speak/type/read, Austin politicos are \”ratcheting back\” HB 222. If you were a bar owner hoping to get your hands on a license for some live or electronic tables … well sorry, you\’re out of luck. The slimmed-down poker bill the Calendars Comittee will (hopefully, fingers crossed) be sending to the House floor in coming days will allow for poker only at parimutuel race tracks and on Indian Reservations.
OK, imho, we can definitely live with that. And great to hear that any opposition is working with us, not against us, in pursuit of a win-win for poker and the people of Texas. Because that\’s really what it\’s all about, right?
(C\’mon river …)
