New Texas Poker Bill Offers Little Comfort For Online Players

NEW TEXAS POKER BILL OFFERS LITTLE COMFORT FOR ONLINE PLAYERS

02nd January, 2025 at 00:48:16

Source: bluffed.net

Texas Poker Gaming Act of 2025 wants to legalise poker in licensed casinos and bingo halls, but ban the internet variety

The irony of the state of Texas regarding the game of poker as an illegal activity has frequently been the subject of comment in the industry, but that may be about to although not to the advantage of online poker.

The year 2025 starts with news from the information site Pokerfuse that a new bill, dubbed Texas Poker Gaming Act of 2025 was introduced to Texas law makers in December 2025 by Democratic Party Senator Eddie Rodriguez, and seeks to legalise and regulate poker offered by state-licensed bricks-and-mortar establishments.

There is little comfort in the measure for internet poker supporters, however - it specifically bans other forms and channels for the game, including internet and mobile poker and even electronic poker tables.

Rodriguez proposes the introduction of a new poker department within the Texas Lottery Commission, despite the fact that the bill defines poker as a game of skill and therefore not a lottery.

"The bill would also allow licenses for offering poker to be applied for by existing pari-mutuel facilities, bingo halls and tribal concerns," Pokerfuse reports. "Participating tribes and pari-mutuels could offer poker around the clock, while bingo halls would be limited to providing poker only during the halls' normal hours of operation."

As the bill stands at present, it supports cash-game activity without limits on buy-ins and with a 10% rake maxed at $4; and it makes provision for live tournaments with a maximum buy-in of $100 - not exactly encouraging for operators with major prize pool ambitions.

There are also proposals regarding bad beat and promotional jackpots, and a suggested tax regime that would see operators taxed at up to 18% of gross revenues. These taxes would primarily be allocated to the state's Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Texas currently has only one legal live poker room - the tribally owned 12-table Lucky Eagle establishment near the Mexico border.

The Rodriguez initiative is a state-based measure, and should not be confused with the federal bill launched last year by fellow Texan Joe Barton (see previous report).

Barton's bill HR 2366, the Online Poker Act of 2025 was introduced in the House of Representatives in Congress in June last year but appears to have stalled in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security despite having gathered some 27 co-sponsors.

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