Lodge Card Club Raided / Grand Jury does not indict any Lodge employees
Came looking for some info on this, but I guess I will kick the thread off. Anyone there at the time or know more detail
I knew several people who moved out of california to texas and florida because of covid/taxes all but one has moved back to a bright blue state after discovering that texas and florida are grimy backward hell holes devoid of culture.
Born and raised in Houston, lived in Austin for two decades. This made me laugh, but also saw the flaws in it. Its a big state, certainly a backwards state, has plenty of problems, hell look at the dumb Governor and Ted Cancun Cruz, but to say devoid of culture is a complete crock. God bless.
When you flagrantly skirt the law, and advertise it on billboards, you're going to get attention.
They made a lot of money and had a lot of fun during the F Around period. Now that the Find Out phase has begun its interesting to see them adopt the victim role.
This is true. There were multiple billboards in Round Rock and Austin advertising The Lodge.
I suspect that a big reason that the Texas poker market has thrived and survived until now is that one or more individuals with a .gov address were, uh "persuaded". A few things I noticed:- In 2018 Attorney General Ken Paxton was asked by a state legislator to issue an official opinion on the legality of social card clubs. A short time later TCH sued a San Antonio room, allegi
This hasn’t been talked about a lot but TCH lobbies a lot and it’s only competition in Austin and arguably its biggest in Texas was the lodge. There’s a lot of politics that go into these things. If they wanted to shutdown all poker they would have hit all the clubs simultaneously because they confiscate the most cash and do the most damage that way. Ya it’s tougher to litigate tons of cases at once but that’s not the strategy to destroy these businesses… you shut them down and let legal fees and overhead drain them so they never reopen. It’s also incredibly difficult to rehire if they did ever reopen and deal with all the issues better just to reincorporate as a new entity
Born and raised in Houston, lived in Austin for two decades. This made me laugh, but also saw the flaws in it. Its a big state, certainly a backwards state, has plenty of problems, hell look at the dumb Governor and Ted Cancun Cruz, but to say devoid of culture is a complete crock. God bless.
It's just a limon post; don't take it too seriously.
Not to throw a curveball, but I'm gonna. Same goes for weed. People think it's legal in some states. It's not. It's still federally illegal everywhere in the country, they just aren't enforcing it at the federal level, by choice. The second some prez gets it up his ass to enforce those laws, a multi-billion dispensary industry goes up on smoke (lol) overnight. The feds co
The ban on smokable THCA goes into effect 3/31 in Texas. Probably coincidental timing to the poker raid, but will have a large impact on many vape shops in Texas. Saw several shop owners on the news saying these products were there most popular, and many will go out of business.
Are the other Lodge poker rooms open?
Maybe they should have spent less on billboards and more on "lobbying".
Are the other Lodge poker rooms open?
Maybe they should have spent less on billboards and more on "lobbying".
The Lodge San Antonio is still in operation. The San Antonio market, while being larger than Austin, tends to get less games (lower median income levels, less marketing?)
The big players in San Antonio are The Lodge San Antonio (formerly Rounders) and SA Card House. Both seem to get about 8 cash games/day roughly from what I've seen.
Meanwhile until the shutdown in Austin, both The Lodge and TCH Austin would see 12-18 cash games/day plus multiple tournaments as well. Now TCH will get 16-25 cash games/day from what I've seen.
TCH has more overall rooms in the State and their Dallas and Las Colinas do gangbusters as far as traffic goes as well as the Austin location. They also have rooms in the Houston market, etc.
When they close one but not the others, it seems like a message. Maybe a shakedown. Maybe they want them to go by the rules and not advertise so blatantly, etc.
PokerNews: Lodge Card Club Shutting Its Doors for "Foreseeable Future"; Staff Informed They've Been Laid Off
Employees of The Lodge Card Club were informed via an email on Tuesday that they've been laid off two weeks following a raid of the popular Texas poker room.
No one has been arrested or charged with any crime yet, but the card room co-owned by Doug Polk has an uncertain future that became even more questionable following an email sent to employees by one of the three majority owners, Jason Levin:
When we started this journey, there were no guarantees—only belief, grit, and a shared commitment to build something meaningful. Through the early challenges, we found our footing together. We built relationships, earned trust, and created a place that was more than just a business. It became a community—because of you.
Each of you played a role in bringing that vision to life. From the front desk to the porters, dealers, managers, and production team—every detail, every interaction, every long day and late night added up to something truly special. You made this place what it was. Not the building, not the brand—you.
That’s why it’s so painful to say that The Lodge Round Rock location will need to shut its doors for the foreseeable future. While no charges have been brought, and we maintain that the club has always operated with the utmost integrity and within the laws of Texas, the Williamson County District Attorney’s office has made clear to our attorneys that they believe The Lodge’s current business model does not comply with Texas law. For this reason, we cannot re-open. Doing so would run the risk that authorities might once again raid The Lodge, seize more cash and assets, and potentially make arrests. Because we have not been given any indication of when the investigation will conclude, we have no other viable path forward at this time. As a result, we are forced to make the incredibly difficult decision to let our entire staff go. We hope you know just how valued each of you are, and as we hope for a favorable outcome, should we be able to once again open our doors, our plan would be to welcome you back with open arms.
There are no words that fully capture how much this hurts—not just as a business decision, but on a human level. I am deeply grateful for everything you’ve given, and I will carry that with me always. You didn’t just show up to work—you built something that mattered.
As we now turn to the difficult task of determining what comes next, please know that each of you has my respect, my appreciation, and my sincere thanks. I hope you take pride in what we created together, because it was real, and it was special.
I will miss all of you more than I can say.
With a heavy heart,
Jason Levin
Source:
This hasn’t been talked about a lot but TCH lobbies a lot and it’s only competition in Austin and arguably its biggest in Texas was the lodge. There’s a lot of politics that go into these things. If they wanted to shutdown all poker they would have hit all the clubs simultaneously because they confiscate the most cash and do the most damage that way. Ya it’s tougher to litigate
You might be right. I think it's also possible that they intend to concentrate their effort on getting the Lodge case to court. If a court decision determines that the model is illegal, all the other clubs will be forced to either voluntarily shut down or risk arrest and prosecution.
You might be right. I think it's also possible that they intend to concentrate their effort on getting the Lodge case to court. If a court decision determines that the model is illegal, all the other clubs will be forced to either voluntarily shut down or risk arrest and prosecution.
Don't think it's even going to court to be honest. If the government wanted to litigate they would have pressed criminal charges which they didn't or at least haven't yet. It's a money laundering charge with no criminal indictments... if that doesn't scream we want this to go away quick without a fight or we'll make this a lot worse for you idk what does. They also left their other entity in the state (lodge San Antonio) untouched so there's always the threat of that too.
Like I said before it's looking more and more like they pissed off the wrong person or their competition has a lot of pull and really wanted them gone.
There are multiple paths…
Administrative…preponderance of evidence and before ALJ. 99% TABC wins. At least lose liquor license, could be fined into BK, could find place of illegal gambling. While all can be appealed only last likely to be overturned. Lodge definitely loses on private place exception at admin level. This would allow a huge potential admin penalty. That if TABC wanted to ends Lodge permanently but would largely be limited to just Lodge. If that is only defect, it could be corrected. This path is months.
TX criminal proceedings. Operating illegal gambling place, promoting illegal gambling and others. Since criminal with criminal risks, higher level proof needed but “Duck Test” is still real. If leg two of private place exception, no economic benefit other than players, is violated, this likely extends to all TX rooms. Since neither side can be 100% certain of outcome, I put it 70:30 for state if in a jurisdiction unfriendly to poker is first. Likely loser appeals so this path takes years for resolution if appealed. Note the admin and criminal paths can find opposite, iow not guilty in criminal court but “guilty” in admin court and both stand simultaneously..there is not a legal problem from these apparent contradicting rulings.
Federal court…this is most likely forum for money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, etc though could proceed in state court also. This one is also years. It also is unlikely to spread across all TX poker. Just because an operation is illegal, doesn’t mean it is guilty of money laundering or tax evasion. These charges have the most serious teeth but will be fact dependent to every establishment. This is likely slowest by far but very possible Lodge could reopen before completion if they modified KYC and AML procedures. This path really depends on stuff none of us have even a clue on because no real details released yet. Affidavit only provided enough to get the warrant. These likely go to federal grand jury before any indictment. Otoh, if Lodge was innocently violating these, they are the most likely to be settled, defects addressed and business continues. The feds don’t really care about the gambling aspect beyond the FinCEN, IRS, etc.
But IANAL and not in TX though I do have legal adjacent experience in a different jurisdiction and the above is just my opinion based on only public info and personal conjecture
Don't think it's even going to court to be honest. If the government wanted to litigate they would have pressed criminal charges which they didn't or at least haven't yet. It's a money laundering charge with no criminal indictments... if that doesn't scream we want this to go away quick without a fight or we'll make this a lot worse for you idk what does. They also left their o
Was a state lead investigation but money laundering and tax evasion would most likely be pursued at federal level. So not surprised no immediate charges. With Lodge s/d and funds seized, no rush to charge because nothing criminal ongoing.
Two likely scenarios. One is someone at Lodge actively “in on it”. The other is Lodge was unknowing “victim” with inadequate KYC and AML controls and procedures.
If the first, feds will take time to build the case and then start trying to flip small fish to get the big fish. If the second, Feds will seek and likely get cooperation from the Lodge. Both scenarios it makes sense to delay or potentially seal any indictments.
I don’t think the lack of immediate indictments really means anything esp. with funds seized and operations shutdown. No ongoing threat or criminal activities.
I don’t think the lack of immediate indictments really means anything esp. with funds seized and operations shutdown. No ongoing threat or criminal activities.
PLO Professor spoke in a video about his experience having his club in Michigan shut down. They took around a year before any files were charged, hit him with a bunch of felonies, told him they were going to make an example of him unless he took a plea deal to surrender the cash they took, etc.
So no indictments can mean they're just going to keep the business shuttered until the owners are begging for a deal to end all of this.
"While no charges have been brought... the Williamson County District Attorney’s office has made clear to our attorneys that they believe The Lodge’s current business model does not comply with Texas law. "
Huh... With so much invested including reputations and careers on the line... Why not call their bluff and fight the fight? That's what poker players do. The best never give up especially if they know this is true:
".... we maintain that the club has always operated with the utmost integrity and within the laws of Texas...."
Is this proof that they were (and are) guilty all along?
".... we cannot re-open. Doing so would run the risk that authorities might once again raid The Lodge, seize more cash and assets, and potentially make arrests."
Actions speak louder than words yes?
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I don't think it's a witch hunt. I think they were loose on KYC or they were allowing peer to peer selling oi chips for cash for large amounts.
"While no charges have been brought... we maintain that the club has always operated with the utmost integrity and within the laws of Texas...."Huh... With so much invested including reputations and careers on the line... Why not call their bluff and fight the fight? That's what poker players do. The best never give up:".... we cannot re-open. Doing so would run the risk that a
What the F is your post even?
No charges have been filed against anyone yet, and they were told they aren't permitted to re-open. Not to mention their bank account/assets are frozen.
If you owned a business and were shut down and had your stuff frozen and were told you can't reopen while they "investigate", would you re-open????? What in the hell are you on about man?
"While no charges have been brought... we maintain that the club has always operated with the utmost integrity and within the laws of Texas...."Huh... With so much invested including reputations and careers on the line... Why not call their bluff and fight the fight? That's what poker players do. The best never give up:".... we cannot re-open. Doing so would run the risk that a
actually, let's put your dumb idea into "action"
The Lodge decides they're going to ignore the authorities and re-open.
1. How many employees do you think will show up and risk arrest?
2. IF players show up, most of them will be there to cash out chips on hand or get to their boxes to cash out their chips (i.e. a run on the bank).
3. Most players will not want to risk playing, getting raided again and being left with their money tied up in chips they can't cash out.
4. The authorities seized computers. I don't know exactly what was taken, but I imagine it's not easy to just re-open without having access to those.
So all this does is create a situation where The Lodge bleeds a bunch of money rather and gains nothing. Genius idea buddy, you should open a club and try it out.
Nobody is getting paid
Club is not reopening
Bankruptcy best case scenario
No gaming commission/oversight
This was absolutely an isolated incident
Doug Polk will personally pay out player chips. Or so he said.
I think it will be a long time before he starts though.
I do not follow Doug on social media, but someone ITT said he seems to be walking that claim back and is now framing repayment within whatever limits his lawyers have laid out. Can anyone confirm?
If that is true, someone should screencap it and post it here for historical purposes.
My take is that if people are not being paid now, they should assume they are not getting paid anytime soon.
And if they do eventually get paid, it may not be the full amount and it may take years to unwind.
Which is why I think Doug should just honor the original payback promise immediately.
If he is already shifting to “within the framework my lawyers have advised,” that sounds less like standing behind the promise and more like starting to back away from it under legal cover.
Which is why I think Doug should just honor the original payback promise immediately.
The amount of moronic statements in this thread because people hate on Polk is insane. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that Doug has to wait for the legal situation to play out before he can do much. Any actions taken by him may exacerbate the situation, create additional liabilities, etc.
If this was happening to YOUR business, would you just shovel out a bunch of money to people or actually listen to legal counsel and do what they recommend?
Good ****ing grief man these moronic posts are putting me on monkey tilt!
