Click here for Part 1 of this 3-part series.
The dispute between Dallas officials and Texas Card House began with cooperation rather than conflict.
In 2020, the poker club worked with city officials to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy, allowing it to open a membership-based poker venue in Dallas. The business model was built around operating as a private social club, where players pay membership dues and hourly seat fees rather than a traditional casino rake.
For roughly two years, the arrangement appeared to function without major issues.
Then the city reversed course.
Officials later argued that the permit had been granted in error and ordered the club to shut down, claiming the venue violated Texas’ strict anti-gambling laws.
Texas Card House pushed back by appealing the decision to the Dallas Board of Adjustment, a quasi-judicial body that reviews city zoning disputes. The board ultimately sided with the poker club and restored its operating permit.
That decision triggered a strange legal scenario: the city’s own building department filed a lawsuit challenging the board’s ruling — effectively placing two branches of Dallas government on opposite sides of the courtroom.
The case bounced through several levels of the Texas court system. A trial court initially sided with the city, but the Fifth District Court of Appeals overturned that decision in 2024, ruling that the Board of Adjustment’s determination deserved greater legal deference.
Dallas officials then asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene.
When the court declined to review the appeal, the appellate ruling remained in place — effectively ending the dispute and allowing the poker room to stay open.
Yet the case also highlights a larger reality: poker in Texas operates in a legal gray area that has existed for decades.
In Part 3, we’ll look at why poker rooms exist in Texas despite strict gambling laws — and how both live clubs and online sites like ACR Poker play a role in the modern poker landscape.
