Lodge Card Club Raided / Grand Jury does not indict any Lodge employees

I am honestly a little shocked that he is not just screenshotting a PDF statement prepared by his attorneys and posting it on X.

I am purely speculating, but if the affidavit is still not public, then my assumption is that a judge has it under seal, potentially because the investigation is still active and perhaps more charges could be coming.

Also, when affidavits do eventually become public in cases like this, investigators will often justify sealing them by arguing that releasing the information too early could lead to evidence being destroyed, hidden, etc.

What percentage of the employees at the Lodge does one think make a decent base pay and don’t primarily rely on tips? Are all employees being compensated during this investigation, how does that work from a legal perspective.

Any chance it's trickle down from that Goldstein case? Idk if he ever played there? Maybe not, but laundering is clearly the topic.

Just out of curiosity - to the guy who was talking about the lodge and AML compliance a few years ago - what should they have done that they haven’t/aren’t? Is it something other than SARs and W2Gs? Do they not file those?

The stuff Goldstein was convicted of took place a long time ago. I doubt it's directly related.

Their assets and bank accounts are frozen so I don't imagine they can do much. The bulk of their staff will be dealers since they have 68 tables, and while they'll make $40-60/hr with tips, without tips they're getting two dollars and change/hr.

If you're looking at Floors, I'm assuming they make $30-35/hr plus some additional cut as well (from tournament fees, etc). No idea what their livestream staff (action trackers, commentators, etc) are paid. Then you have the GM who'll be making 6-figures/year. Cage and front desk staff are going to be base-pay primarily with some tips but significantly less than what a dealer pulls in. Dealers may "tip-out" to these support staff as well.

As far as I'm aware, the security and cleaning staff are outside vendors.

I have worked in, managed, and owned businesses that have AML policies (I have one in place for my company now) and are supposed to file SARs, and I can tell you that they almost NEVER get filed. It is kind of a ridiculous thing to ask of small to medium size companies, other than for something that is atrociously obvious. They don't have the expertise and technology, nor the will and want to spend time getting caught up in those. No one wants to be known as a company that scrutinizes their clientele like that either. It is a risky line to walk either way. I have filed exactly two in the 25+ years I have been involved in businesses that are required to file them. That should really be more left to the large banks/finance companies and payment processors.

I will say that it is extremely easy to develop an AML policy with today's AI though. My 13 year old could produce one, so it is dumb to not at least have a basic AML policy in place.

When I brought that up a few years ago, I was not claiming to have insider knowledge of what they were or were not doing... it was more of a structural question in my mind.

Based on my experience in fintech, doing AML is not cheap. You are talking about KYC, ongoing monitoring, constant reviews, documentation, vendors, compliance overhead (attorneys)... the list goes on and on.

So when I look at a card club model built around memberships and seat fees... I have always had a hard time understanding how a truly robust AML program would fit neatly into that model at scale. That was the point I was making.

So to your point, I have no idea what they were doing internally... just that, from the outside, based on my experience, the economics raised questions for me, especially at the scale the club was operating.

MORE CHARGES?!?!

Don’t they first have to file any charges?

You should clean the sand out of your bikini bottoms before wearing them.

I didn't see this posted. From Doug and his lawyers:

"I did not participate in, and still have no knowledge of, any money laundering in the operation of the Lodge.
I understand that some people assume that because there was a search warrant, a crime must have been committed, but that’s not really how the process works. A search warrant is just one step in an investigation, based on an affidavit from law enforcement.
That affidavit has not been given to the Lodge or made public.
My heart goes out to the hundreds of Lodge employees whose jobs are in jeopardy. These are good, kind, hardworking people, and it is painful to see them struggle through this uncertainty.
I also care deeply about the situation for our members. There are numerous people with both chip balances and tournament payouts that cannot currently be processed. I want to reiterate that these members will be made whole, and I will personally make sure that happens, in coordination with my attorneys, so that it is done properly.
With the advice of my lawyers, I am committed to cooperating with law enforcement officials, answering any questions they have, and doing everything I can to clear up the confusion of what has and has not been happening at The Lodge.
I expect to provide another update soon, once more information is available and my attorneys have had an opportunity to fully assess the situation.
In the meantime, I appreciate your patience and support."

Sorry if I wasn't supposed to post this.

Only posted three times on the previous page, lol.

by TampaKn1sh m

The latest from PokerNews and it's not looking good:

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2026/03/the-lodge-poker-club-raid-search-warrant-poker-50836.htm

pokernews

The Lodge Card Club Raid: Warrant Details $1.35M in "Suspicious" Deposits

Interesting info, thanks for posting. It's not clear why the transactions themselves are considered suspicious since poker rooms operate primarily as a cash business. Perhaps the amount of cash over a short period of time exceeds what they believe the room could reasonably make for the $12/hr they're charging for time, for the number of tables/players. The fact the Lodge offered to "pay" for the players membership for a private game does run them afoul of the Texas gambling loophole but that seems like a comparatively small violation, esp since other agents reported they were (properly) required to pay the membership fee for the general, non-private games.

First part, they probably have more evidence and additional info from the informant that they simply have not disclosed at this point.

Second part, for the "comped" fees. That is a nothing burger unless further action/evidence occurred with it. I don't know the texas law about comping a membership fee etc... but simply saying I could do this thing or would do this thing, where "this thing" is illegal, except for some very specific things, is not a crime.

you guys are missing the fact that they said they were never even asked if they were members - they were just allowed to play without paying the fees

that is much less an "omg they are letting people play without charging them" - which is perfectly legal

it's not about that at all - it's "so where are they making millions in profit if they aren't even bothering to check if people are paying dues?"

that is what this investigation is all about - those men went in there to see if they were generating a type of cash flow that would account for such deposits and they decided it wasn't

Perhaps, but the search warrant reads as if the transactions themselves are a large part of the evidence. To wit:

"The above listed transactions are believed to be in support of, and constitute evidence of the illegal activity taking place at the Lodge Card Club," the search warrant reads.

Supposedly one agent was permitted to play without having to show evidence of his membership (required by Texas law). But I agree, this seems like a relatively minor infraction and could be defended by the LODGE as an isolated compliance failure.

Except that appears to be an isolated incident, based on the TABC's own account:

Agent Teague, upon leaving the club, informed other TABC agents that "he was never asked about providing proof of, or the need to purchase a membership while inside the club," the affidavit reads. However, it was also noted that other agents were informed they must purchase a membership when they entered a game.

They collect $12/hr time in addition to any membership fees. The room has 70 tables, so running at full capacity that's about $250k/month, which is still less than the amount of transactions identified (as I suggested), although it's not clear over what operating period those transactions are associated with.

They don't have to ask if you are a member. When you clock in at the table it checks to see if your membership is current or not. He must have been current or they wouldn't have dealt him cards. At least that's how it is at every place I've played. I haven't played at the Lodge, but can't imagine it being any different.

yes i get that but they were clearly there to clock the amount of tables and estimating gross

but it is telling that they aren't checking all people for membership - as that's another form of revenue

obviously could be an outlier, just some random oversight by some new employee - but not having staff checking all the investigators if they've been paying the weekly $10 membership or not is not going to look good in the eyes of the law when they already suspect it of being a front

It doesn't say the guy didn't have a membership, it says they didn't ASK him if he has a membership. They don't have to ask because the Poker Atlas machine at the table is going to tell the dealer if he doesn't have a current membership and they won't let him play.

That's also assuming the front desk doesn't catch it when he gets on the list. The guy probably paid for the membership when he paid for his time and didn't realize it. Then thought they were supposed to ask him at the door or something, not realizing the software takes care of all that.

yeah it wouldn't surprise me if that's what happened and since they don't know poker they missed that

i'm just pointing out the silly notion people are getting from that article that the illegal act was not checking membership

I have another take on this. It is all probably because of his association with club wpt gold and probably running the funds from it through the lodge accounts and then outside the state to like Florida or something. I mean poker players just shouldn't be businessmen at the end of the day. I like Doug but tbh if you want a business to be successful you can't be involved in a lot of stuff and have to keep a low profile or you run the risk of pissing people off and they come for your livelihood.

Legends has no membership or door fee. Tons of rooms are doing what they described or worse. This is targeted 100%

I don't really see anyone saying that. And technically, failing to require/enforce a membership would be illegal per Texas statutes on the club membership exclusions allowed for gambling.